Hole just too deep for UNI, as it loses MVC opener to Missouri State, 68-64

CEDAR FALLS — Spin this any which way you'd like.

The Northern Iowa Panthers fought oh, so valiantly and nearly pulled off the comeback of all comebacks Wednesday night in their Missouri Valley Conference opener. That's a good thing.

But there's that ugly word. Nearly.

The black and white is that Missouri State led from wire to wire, building as much as a 24-point lead and hanging on by its fingernails for a 68-64 win over UNI at the McLeod Center.

'We've got to take it as a positive,' said UNI's Jeremy Morgan, who had a game-high 28 points before fouling out in the final seconds. 'We have the ability to play like we did in the second half for the entire game. Whatever it is, we've got to find a way to do that.'

UNI (5-7) fell behind by an unimaginable score of 32-8 in an abhorrent first half. It was a 39-22 game at the break.

You just felt like the Panthers had a run in them, though, and they did, working and working to get within 62-58 with 2:38 remaining. A missed Bears one-and-one and Morgan driving layup made it a 64-62 game with 19 seconds remaining.

Missouri State's Ryan Kreklow clutched up for four free throws from there.

'We've done well in that situation, when we've gotten behind, had to scramble and make some plays,' said UNI Coach Ben Jacobson. 'That's good. But the obvious is that we've got to figure out the first part. It's hard to play down eight, down 12, down 15. The fact that our guys gave the kind of effort it takes to get it into position to still win the basketball game is terrific. But we've got to get the first part figured out.'

'I just have tremendous respect for Northern Iowa,' said Missouri State Coach Paul Lusk. 'We played about as well as we could, yet they've won a lot of championships, won a lot of games, and I knew they were going to come back. It got a little bit crazy, but I'm really proud of my guys for making some plays down the stretch and finding a way to get out of here.'

UNI's emergency pressure defense and double-team traps forced Missouri State into 17 turnovers, which helped the rally. Northern Iowa made a concerted effort, it appeared, to get the basketball inside offensively as well, which forced a bunch of early second-half Bears fouls.

Center Bennett Koch added 16 points for Northern Iowa, a much-needed return to form. UNI plays Sunday at Evansville.

'I felt more confident tonight,' Koch said.

Guard Dequon Miller had 17 points to lead Missouri State (10-4), with Kreklow adding 13 and Alize Johnson 12.

Northern Iowa played almost the entire second half with the lineup of Morgan, Koch, Spencer Haldeman, Klint Carlson and Jordan Ashton, eschewing a traditional point guard. Juwan McCloud started but played only nine minutes, while Hunter Rhodes didn't play at all in the second half.

Carlson, in fact, never left the court. Morgan played 38 minutes and Haldeman 36.

'We all just brought more intensity in the second half,' Morgan said. 'I felt like we didn't have that intensity in the first half. It's hard to dig yourself out of a hole that is that deep.'

The first half was so reminiscent of a non-conference game here about a month ago against George Mason. And not in a good way.

Missouri State took control of the game via a 19-0 run in which Northern Iowa went seven minutes and 18 seconds between points. In the aforementioned 54-50 home loss to George Mason, the Panthers went 11:16 without scoring.

A Morgan jumper finally broke the spell, but Missouri State scored eight of the next 10 points to assume that 32-8 edge.

If the play on the court wasn't frustrating enough, Jacobson was assessed a technical foul late in the half for being out of the coach's box while questioning a potential traveling call on the Bears that was ruled a foul instead. Fans went bonkers a short time later when Lusk walked a couple of steps onto the court to try and get an explanation on a foul that was ruled non-shooting instead of shooting.

The game officials were booed off the court at the break, though it was hardly their fault why UNI trailed by 17.

'If I start, I'm going to get into more trouble with the officials and our league than I've ever been,' Jacobson said, when asked about the technical. 'Because that was terrible.'

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