Hlas column: Panthers and their fans roar to a big victory

 (At the end of this post, I've got video of UNI Coach Ben Jacobson from his postgame press conference. I apologize for the shaky videography in places. I was pinched for time and both wrote and held the camera at the same time.)

CEDAR FALLS - The McLeod Center was charged Wednesday night, tense, wild.

This was Big Game atmosphere, with a loud standing-room-only crowd of 6,723 that stood up for their team's defensive stands early in the ballgame. These were two talented and tenacious basketball teams, Wichita State and Northern Iowa, with a lot on the line.

It was a veritable lion's den, and some of the Panthers played like lions uncaged. The roar that UNI center Jordan Eglseder – seven feet and 280 pounds – made after a second-half basket off a rebound might have been as intriguing to pro wrestling scouts as those from pro basketball.

It was as if a nephew of Andre the Giant were prowling the floor for the 22nd-ranked Panthers.

UNI avenged its only Missouri Valley Conference loss this season with its 59-56 victory over a Wichita State squad that ought to be joining the Panthers in the NCAA tournament next month.

UNI is 11-1 and the Shockers 8-4 in the Valley, so the Panthers pretty much put a hammerlock on the regular-season title with six league games left. But if these two teams square off again in the conference tourney in St. Louis, call it a tossup.

This one would have gone Wichita's way were it not for a redheaded, Irish lion named Lucas O'Rear. He was the Panthers' premier pounder this night. The 6-6, 255-pounder, had more offensive rebounds (five) than the entire Wichita team.

"Tonight the ball kind of hopped off toward me a couple times," O'Rear said.

Sure. And antelopes leap right into lions' clutches.

O'Rear embodied the crowd's fury, matching Eglseder's 20 minutes of playing time and contesting everything he could contest.

"I feel bad for guys guarding me," said UNI point guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe, "because they're usually coming off bruising screens from Lucas. He helps me out."

Ahelegbe went from misfiring to on-fire. The junior was 1-for-9 from the field in the first half, which ended with the Shockers holding a 28-27 lead.

An understandable response would have been to back off and try to set up others. But Ahelegbe is a cut above most college players. He has what the best scorers have, a constant self-confidence.

It doesn't hurt that his coach, Ben Jacobson, shares that faith in him.

"I've got a great coach who was still telling me to shoot and get to the rim, don't worry about it," Ahelegbe said.

Stuck on just three points for the game with 11:17 left, Ahelegbe missed a pair of foul shots. Was something wrong with the junior this night? Not at all. The next time the Panthers had the ball he knifed to the basket for a hoop that tied the game.

Then he stuck a jumper. Then he spotted up and stuck another jumper. Then he knifed for another basket. It was eight points in a little over two minutes, and it put a lead that had changed sides 10 times into UNI's ownership for keeps.

Ahelegbe hit a 3-pointer and two more pull-up jumpers before the game was over for an 18-point night. It was a championship performance in a championship environment.

Oh, what nervous fun it was for all in the arena but the Shockers.

"There's no question our fans and our student body have taken to this group of guys," Jacobson said.

Winning draws fans. Winning with ferocity captures their hearts.

There's another game here Saturday afternoon. Southern Illinois has its work cut out.