University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Southern Illinois
Salukis Stop Panthers, 63-57
2/28/2013 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team saw its six-game Missouri Valley Conference winning streak come to an end Wednesday night in SIU Arena as the Southern Illinois Salukis scored a 63-57 win over the Panthers.
UNI (17-13 overall, 10-7 MVC) was led in scoring by senior guard Marc Sonnen with 18 points. Sophomore guard Deon Mitchell added eight assists.
SIU (13-16 overall, 5-12 MVC) got 18 points from Desmar Jackson and 14 points from Jeff Early to top the Panthers.
SIU led 7-0 early, but the UNI stormed back and knotted the game at 14-14. However, SIU closed the half on a 17-5 run to take a 39-24 lead at the break.
The Salukis led 48-33 with 11:05 left in the game before the Panthers rallied again. UNI held the Salukis scoreless over the next eight minutes of action and pulled to within 48-43 on a three-pointer from sophomore forward Marvin Singleton.
Jackson then hit two free throws with 2:50 left to up the lead back to seven at 50-43. SIU would eventually pushed the lead back to 11 points at 55-44 with 1:28 left before UNI made one final attempt at a comeback.
The Panthers got it back to a four-point margin wtih 58-54 on a 3-pointer from Sonnen with 31 ticks left. Mitchell also buried a 3-pointer with 3.0 seconds left to get UNI within four points, but the Panthers could get no closer and dropped the game, 63-57.
UNI will play its final home regular season game on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the McLeod Center vs. the Illinois State Redbirds. UNI will honor its four seniors (Anthony James, Jake Koch, Austin Pehl and Marc Sonnen) prior to the game.
NOTES: UNI played without senior Anthony James, who injured his left thigh in UNI's previous game vs. Denver ... with a win on Saturday, UNI would be the No. 3 seed in the MVC Tournament and play either Drake or Illinois State ... with a loss on Saturday, UNI will be the No. 4 seed and play either Indiana State or Evansville in the quarterfinals ... UNI entered the game ranked No. 6 in the country in free throw percentage at 76.9 per game and the Panthers made 9-of-11 vs. the Salukis at the charity stripe ... UNI won the rebounding battle, 38-30 ... SIU committed only seven turnovers, while the Panthers turned the ball over 16 times.
