University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Wichita State
UNI Captures 2nd Straight MVC Championship
3/7/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team captured its second straight State Farm Missouri Valley Conference basketball title with a 67-52 win over the Wichita State Shockers on Sunday at Scottrade Center.
The Panthers (28-4 overall) were powered by a game-high 24 points from tournament's Most Outstanding Player Kwadzo Ahelegbe. Ahelegbe posted a game-high 24 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and 12-of-14 from the free throw line. Redshirt freshman Jake Koch knocked in 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, which included 3-of-4 from 3-point land.
UNI jumped out to an early 12-5 advantage behind a pair of threes from Kerwin Dunham gave the lead back to the Panthers at 17-16 with 7:32 left before intermission.
Jake Koch's third three-pointer of the first half gave UNI a 21-18 edge with 5:24 on the first-half clock. But a putback jumper by WSU's Aaron Ellis and a 3-pointer by Clevin Hannah put the Shockers back on top, 23-21. The first half saw nine lead changes with the final one coming with two seconds on the clock as WSU's Demetric Williams buried a 3-pointer to give the Shcokers a 31-28 halftime lead.
WSU eventually stretched its lead to six points at 39-33 with 16:24 to go in the game. But WSU would not score another field goal until the 4:14 mark when Hannah made a 3-pointer. The Panthers went on a 23-3 run during that 12-minute stretch and opened up a 56-42 lead over the second-seeded Shockers.
The Panthers kept the Shockers at a nine point margin or more the rest of the way and MVC Sixth Man of the Year Lucas O'Rear closed the scoring by banking in a 3-pointer with 8.1 seconds left to make it 67-52.
"This what we've been working on all season," O'Rear said. "Wichita State is a good team. We've had battles with them and split during the season. We knew it was going to be a battle but we just got a couple more balls and came out on top."
"It's been a long time coming," Ali Farokhmanesh said. "We came out and sort of lost our cause for a bit, but I think we learned from that and I think we moved past those things. It feels great to end things here and now in St. Louis with a championship."
"I'm in there with some of the greatest players of the Missouri Valley Conference's history," Ahelegbe said about being named the tournament MVP. "It's an honor and I jus twant to take it in right now. I'm just honored to be there."
NOTES: Kwadzo Ahelegbe were named to the All-Tournament Team ... Eglseder recorded a career-high five blocks ... UNI was 10-of-20 from 3-point land in the game ... the UNI bench outscored the WSU bench, 25-10 ... UNI is 3-1 all-time in MVC title games ... head coach Ben Jacobson is 7-2 (.778) in the MVC Tournament ranking behind only Charlie Spoonhour (5-1, .833) and Nolan Richardson (11-3, .786) ... UNI and Bradley's team in 1988 are the only two MVC champions to win each game of the MVC Tournament by 15 or more points ... UNI is 14-0 in games decided by 10 or more points, and has won 21 straight games decided by double figures ... UNI is the fourth different program to win consecutive MVC tournament titles (Creighton, Illinois State and Southern Illinois) ... Ben Jacobson joins Dana Altman (1999, 2000) as the only coaches to win championships in their first two title game appearances ... UNI improved to 16-15 all-time in the MVC Tournament - the first time ever the program has been over .500 in MVC tournament play.
