Salukis Streak Ends as Northern Iowa Wins, 69-57

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Southern Illinois men’s basketball saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end Saturday on the road at Northern Iowa as the Panthers defeated the Salukis, 69-57 at the McLeod Center.

“Give credit to Northern Iowa. They played better than us today no doubt about it,” head coach Bryan Mullins said postgame. “We didn’t play our best basketball and we can’t take an extended amount of time off and expect to come back and win.”

When asked about his squad’s slow start to the first and second half Mullins said: “There wasn’t much momentum apart from a six to eight-minute gap there. I just don’t think we played very well and give credit to Northern Iowa.”

Down 13 points in the first half, the Salukis rallied back to cut the Northern Iowa lead to six points at intermission thanks in part to an 11-4 run over the final six minutes of the half. During the run, SIU held UNI to 2-for-9 shooting.

Southern (12-5, 4-2 MVC) would rally in the second half though, cutting the UNI lead to two points with under four minutes remaining before the Panthers (8-8, 4-2 MVC) were able to pull away.

Lance Jones paced the Salukis with 17 points on the day while Marcus Domask chipped in eight and JD Muila and Xavier Johnson scored seven each.

UNI was led by Bowen Born who scored a game-high 27 on 8-for-15 shooting. As a team, the Panthers were 48.1 percent (25-52) from the field while Southern finished at 41.9 percent (18-43). UNI won the battle on the boards 35-25, including 10-3 on the offensive glass leading to 10 second chance points.

Jones connected on 9-of-10 from the free throw line and shot 4-for-12 from the field in the game. The senior added a pair of steals and assists in the loss. Domask was held at bay for much of the game battling UNI double teams nearly every time he touched the ball. The Waupun, Wisconsin native finished 3-for-9 from the field for eight points while leading SIU with six rebounds and four assists.

UP NEXT
The Salukis will travel to Terre Haute for a meeting with Indiana State on Wednesday. Tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT from Hulman Center.

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