UNI Moves Into MVC Tournament Semifinals

The past four years, "Arch Madness" has been arch sadness for the UNI men's basketball team. The Panthers ended their struggles in St. Louis Friday night (March 6).

UNI roared into the semifinals of the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Tournament with a 71-46 victory over the Bradley Braves at Scottrade Center.

The Panthers (28-3 overall) used a 28-7 run in the second half to blow open a two-point game. UNI senior Nate Buss (Charles City, Iowa) scored a season-high 23 points.

Senior Deon Mitchell (Pflugerville, Texas) poured in 11 of his 14 points in the second half to key a 44-21 scoring advantage for the Panthers in the final 20 minutes. UNI senior Seth Tuttle (Sheffield, Iowa) added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Panthers opened up a 21-8 lead in the first half. UNI drained four its five first-half three-pointers in a 17-5 run that gave the No. 2 seed a 13-point lead. However, the Braves did not fold and finished the first half on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 27-25 at intermission.

Bradley (9-24 overall) scored the first bucket of the second half to complete a 12-0 spurt and knot the score at 27-27.

UNI led 34-32 before executing its 28-7 run to seize control of the quarterfinal contest.

The Panthers advance to the semifinals of "Arch Madness" for the eighth time in school history. It was UNI's first quarterfinal victory since the 2010 MVC Tournament.

With the win, the Panthers advance to play Loyola (Chicago) next in the MVC semifinals on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Scottrade Center. The Ramblers blew out Indiana State, 81-53, in the last of Friday's quarterfinal games.

NOTES: UNI improved to 4-0 all-time as the No. 2 seed in the MVC Tournament ... UNI moved to 3-2 vs. Bradley in MVC Tournament games ... UNI is 17-19 all-time in the MVC Tournament ... UNI head coach Ben Jacobson improved to 8-6 all-time in MVC Tournament games ... UNI held its 24th opponent to 58 points or less ... Bradley was limited to 33.3 percent from the floor - marking the 19th time this season that UNI has held the opposition to less than 40 percent field goal shooting ... UNI shot 52.2 percent from the floor - marking the 12th time this season that UNI has shot 50 percent or better from the field ... UNI has used the same starting lineup (Deon Mitchell, Matt Bohannon, Jeremy Morgan, Marvin Singleton and Seth Tuttle) in all 31 games this season ... the win was UNI's 13th road/neutral victory this season ... UNI made 10 3-pointers - the sixth time this season that UNI has registered a double-figure 3-point shooting game.