UNI claims MVC men’s basketball championship with OT victory over Loyola-Chicago

CEDAR FALLS — If it was in fact AJ Green’s final game at McLeod Center, it was an epic opus.

A seesaw battle of the Missouri Valley Conference’s two hottest teams in a de facto winner-take-all regular-season championship game delivered Saturday night, as Northern Iowa outlasted Loyola-Chicago, 102-96, in overtime before a sellout crowd.

“What an unbelievable game,” UNI coach Ben Jacobson said to open his postgame press conference. “As a coach, but maybe more just loving the game of basketball, the four guys that are old on our side (and) the older guys on their team just play the game. There’s nothing else going on out there, except competing and playing and working and you can’t help but love that.”

Entering overtime tied at 87, Green and Bowen Born secured UNI’s dramatic win, scoring 11 of 15 points in the extra period.

Born — who registered a career-high 20 points — seemingly sealed the Panther win, hitting a contested left-wing 3 to give UNI a 97-90 lead with 50 seconds remaining.

“When (Born) hit that late 3 — that was the moment — that was the loudest I’ve ever heard (McLeod Center),” UNI senior center Austin Phyfe said.

Green — who scored a game-high 32 points — scored UNI’s first four in overtime as he routinely earned trips to the free-throw line (16-of-18) in the second half.

“I just keep going back to the work always pays off,” Green said. “It’s a great feeling to get another one of these, but we want that one down in St. Louis.”

Trailing 69-60 with 12:12 remaining, Loyola-Chicago’s Braden Norris fouled Born and put the Panthers into the bonus. Less than three minutes later, UNI was in the double bonus and capitalized on the Ramblers’ undisciplined defense, converting 28 of 31 free-throw attempts over the game’s final 17 minutes.

“The reason we got to the bonus that early was the way we were playing,” Jacobson said. “(Loyola’s) got so much experience and they're so good defensively it’s really hard to trick them. So, you’ve just got to find a way to manufacture some things. The way we had to do it tonight was to be aggressive and get downhill.”

Along with its stubborn comeback approach to play downhill and earn trips to the free-throw line, Green’s signature performance included a contested turnaround jumper that tied the game at 77 with five minutes to play.

An 11-2 run by Loyola bookended the first and second halves and proceeded a 3-point barrage where the Ramblers made five of their first six 3s to gain their largest lead at 69-60 with 12 minutes to play.

Two early fouls by Green in the game’s first four minutes threatened the Panthers’ chances, but Noah Carter picked up his teammate, scoring 19 of his 24 points in the first 20 minutes.

Eight of Carter’s 19 came during a 12-0 run that put UNI in front 28-17 with 8:24 left in the half — its largest lead of the game.

“There’s plenty of games where we’re able to get (Carter) the ball in certain spots and get him some touches in the post and maybe free him up for a 3 here and there. That first half (of his) wasn’t like that. The first half it was him just finding shots and being aggressive,” Jacobson said. “He’s been great. He’s an all-conference guy. He’s just had a big-time year.”

Asked about overcoming a 4-7 start to the season and prevailing among three other MVC heavyweights, Jacobson described an unwavering belief within the team.

“We had to get healthy. Our guys know all the stuff that was going on (in) October, November and December,” Jacobson said. “Like, not everybody knows all that stuff and our guys do. We never once doubted what we were capable of. Not one time. Not one time. These guys had to make it happen, but we knew what was going on. Once we got healthy these guys just got it rolling.”

UNI travels to St. Louis next weekend for the MVC tournament as the top seed and will play the winner of Indiana State and Illinois State at noon Friday.

Wins by Missouri State and Drake secured the second and third seeds for the Bears and Bulldogs, respectively. With its loss Saturday, the Ramblers dropped to the fourth seed.