University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Bradley
Bradley Edges UNI, 51-48, on Buzzer Beater
3/2/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2007
St. Louis, Mo. - Bradley's Will Franklin hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the fourth-seeded Braves to a 51-48 win over fifth-seeded University of Northern Iowa, Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference tournament. UNI's record fell to 18-13 overall, while Bradley improved to 21-11.
With the score tied at 48-all, Bradley had the ball with 31 seconds to play and worked for the final shot. With the clock running down, Franklin went left and the ball was poked away by UNI's Jared Josten (Webster City, Iowa). With several players scrambling for the ball, it fell to the feet of Franklin, who picked it up and fired all in the same motion from the left wing, hitting nothing but net. UNI was unable to get shot off to tie, and Bradley claimed the win.
Bradley jumped out of the gates early, opening an 18-4 lead to start the game, as UNI hit just two of its first seven shots and had five turnovers in the first nine minutes of the game. The Braves got seven points from point guard Daniel Ruffin and five from Jeremy Crouch during that opening run.
The Panthers battled back, going on a 12-0 run of their own over the next six minutes, culminated by a Stout three-pointer. Bradley hit back-to-back threes to extend its lead back to 24-18, and went into the locker room with a 28-21 edge.
The Braves built their lead to as many as nine, 38-29, with 11:57 left, on a Crouch jumper. But Stout rattled in a three and added a layup, part of a 7-0 run over the next three minutes that pulled UNI within two. Bradley extended its lead back to 46-41 with 4:16 left, after Crouch drove baseline and scored.
After Bradley's Matt Salley missed the front end of a one-and-one, Stout then scored five straight points, including a three-pointer from with 2:15 left to give UNI its first lead of the game, 48-46. Bradley's J.J. Tauai tied the game with 57 seconds left, putting back his own miss. Brooks McKowen (Fairbank, Iowa) then missed a three-pointer on UNI's next possession, setting up Franklin's heroics.
Stout was the only UNI player in double figures, leading all players with 19 points, while grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Bradley was led by Tauai who had 16 points.
