Jan. 30, 2008

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Cedar Falls, Iowa - Jordan Eglseder came off the bench to score 15 points, and Eric Coleman posted his 10th double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds, to lead the University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team to a 69-61 win over Illinois State tonight at the McLeod Center.

The Panthers received a balanced offensive effort, as nine players scored. Adam Koch, Travis Brown and Jared Josten had eight points apiece, Adam Viet added seven and Kerwin Dunham scored six. Koch, Coleman and Josten each had four assists for UNI, who had 16 assists and just five turnovers as a team. Illinois State was led by Dom Johnson who scored a game-high 17 points.

Viet hit a three-pointer to help propel UNI to a 7-2 lead out of the gate. Illinois State scored 10 of the next 12 points and took a 13-9 lead after Johnson hit a trey. Eglseder nailed a three-pointer of his own to put UNI back in front 16-15, with 13:28 left in the first half. The Panthers led 19-18 with 10:31 left when Johnson hit his third three-pointer of the opening stanza, to give ISU the lead, 21-19. With the game tied at 28-all, UNI scored four straight points to go in front 32-28 with 2:21 remaining, but ISU answered with four straight of its own to pull even again. Kerwin Dunham hit a three from the left wing to put the Panthers in front, 35-32 with just under a minute remaining, and UNI held a 35-34 lead at halftime. Eglseder had 11 points in the first half for UNI, while Johnson had 11 and Dinma Odiakosa 10 for Illinois State.

The back-and-forth affair continued in the second half, as there were two ties and two lead changes in the first four minutes. Eglseder scored on two straight possessions to put UNI in front 42-38, and the Panthers extended their advantage to as many as six, 51-45, with 10:43 left. Illinois State scored six straight points to pull even at 51-all, but Brown hit a three to give UNI the lead for good, 54-51, with 6:24 on the clock. Illinois State pulled within one on two occasions over the next two minutes, but the Panthers scored the next time down the floor each time to push their lead back to three.

UNI led, 63-61, with just over a minute left when Josten went in for a layup. ISU's Brandon Sampay blocked the shot, grabbed the ball, and took off down the floor. As Sampay drove in for what would have been the tying layup, Viet came in from behind and stole the ball for the Panthers. That led to a breakaway layup from Josten that pushed the Panthers' lead to 65-61 with 28 seconds left. ISU's Osiris Eldridge missed a jumper on the next possession, and Koch sealed the win for UNI by hitting four free throws in the final 20 seconds.

The Panthers shot 44 percent from the field and were 19-for-23 from the free throw line in the game, while Illinois State shot 43 percent and were 12-for-17 at the charity stripe. UNI made 6-of-16 three-point attempts, while Illinois State was just 3-for-13. UNI's bench outscored Illinois State's reserves, 26-6.

UNI improved to 13-8 overall, 5-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Illinois State fell to 15-6, 7-3 in conference. The Panthers play host to Southern Illinois this Saturday night (Feb. 2), with tipoff from the McLeod Center set for 7:05 pm.