Northern Iowa Stuns Missouri State Bears 69-66 at Great Southern Bank Arena

The Northern Iowa Panthers came from behind in the second half to beat the Missouri State Bears 69-66 Saturday afternoon at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield.

The Bears took a 60-53 lead on Chance Moore’s layup with 5:24 left in regulation, but the Panthers tied the game 64-64 on Bowen Born’s layup with 1:23 remaining.

Born was fouled on the play and made a free throw to give UNI a 65-64 advantage.

James Betz added two more free throws for the Panthers with 15.9 seconds remaining, but Moore was fouled in the act of shooting a three pointer near the Bears’ bench with 7.5 seconds to go.

Moore had a chance to tie the game with three free throws, but after making the first, missed the second, then made the third to make it a one point game.

Born nailed two free throws with 6.0 seconds to go, and Alston Mason’s game-tying three point attempt at the buzzer hit off the rim.

Missouri State held a 38-33 lead at the half in a game that featured nine ties and four lead changes.

Moore led the Bears in scoring with 17 points, with Donovan Clay adding 11.

Born, a sophomore, led UNI with 21 points, with freshman Michael Duax adding 17.

The Bears shot just 32% from the field in the second half (7-22) and went 3-12 from three point range.

For the game, MSU hit eight treys on 27 attempts, while Northern Iowa converted on 7 of 18 attempts.

The Bears out-rebounded the Panthers 33-32, and MSU shot 64% from the foul line (14-22).

UNI converted 12 of its 16 free throw attempts.

Missouri State drops to 14-14 on the season, 10-8 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Panthers improve to 13-15, 9-9.

The Bears play their final regular season home game Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at Murray State.

That game will be broadcast on 93-3 A-M 560 KWTO.