Beane’s 32 points help Southern Illinois sink Northern Iowa

Northern Iowa rallied in the second half but could not complete the comeback against Southern Illinois, falling, 75-73, Saturday night at SIU Arena in Carbondale, Ill.

The Salukis lead by 11 points, 70-59, with 1:35 remaining before Northern Iowa went on a wild run.

Wes Washpun hit a free throw, missed the second, and Paul Jesperson put in the rebound to cut it to 73-72 with 11.1 seconds remaining.

But SIU (13-2, 2-0 MVC) inbounded the ball and Anthony Beane Jr. got a dunk at the other end.

Beane finished with 32 points.

'We gave him a little too much space,” Northern Iowa Coach Ben Jacobson said on the KXEL postgame. 'We've got to make him drive it into traffic and take your chances. If he keeps making all the shots he made tonight, you're looking at a hard guy to handle.”

Beane hit 11 of 17 from the floor, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range.

Jacobson said it hurt that Jeremy Morgan battled foul trouble, and eventually fouled out.

'That's our best matchup on him,” Jacobson said. 'The way Jeremy is playing for us, that's a long time to sit. He was completely out of the flow.

'We need him on the floor at both ends.”

Offensively, the Panthers shot 33.3 percent from the arc (8 of 24) but the Salukis were on fire, 13 of 22 (59.1 percent).

Matt Bohannon was 1 for 7 and Jesperson 3 for 8.

'Offensively we had some pretty good opportunities we didn't get anything out of,” Jacobson said.

Northern Iowa (9-6, 1-1) did get strong bench play from Klint Carlson and Wyatt Lohaus. Each scored 11 points as the Panther bench outscored SIU, 22-6.

'Klint has played well and has been consistent,” Jacobson said. 'Wyatt was terrific in the first half when the other guys were not quite on track.”

Carlson also had five rebounds and a blocked shot in 28 minutes.

'When I come in, I want to help us on offense, with rebounding,” Carlson said.

Northern Iowa returns to the court on Wednesday when it takes on Missouri State (4-10, 0-2) in Springfield, Mo.