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Final Score: Illinois State 55 - Northern Iowa 61

Cedar Falls, IA (Sports Network) - Jordan Eglseder had 13 points and six rebounds as 25th-ranked Northern Iowa took a 61-55 win over Illinois State at McLeod Center.

Adam Koch had 12 points and five rebounds while Kwadzo Ahelegbe added 10 points for the Panthers (25-4, 15-3 MVC), who won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title and went 14-0 at home this season, their first perfect season at home since 1963-64.

Osiris Eldridge had 14 points and Dinma Odiakosa added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Redbirds (21-9, 11-7), who had won their previous six games.

Trailing by nine points to start the second half, Illinois State cut its deficit to four points on a Odiakosa layup 2 1/2 minutes in.

A bit later, Tony Lewis put in a layup and Eldridge followed with a layup to get the Redbirds to within one, 40-39, with just over 11 minutes to play.

A few minutes later, Ali Farokhmanesh buried a ball from long range to give Northern Iowa a 45-40 advantage with just over eight minutes to play.

Koch put in a layup then banked a shot off the glass to give Northern Iowa a 51-43 lead with under five minutes left in the game.

Lloyd Phillips drained a three-pointer with 2:09 to play to cut the Redbirds' deficit to 53-50, but Ahelegbe followed with two from the line and, after Dinma Odiakosa missed a layup, Johnny Moran put in two free throws for a 57-50 lead with just over a minute to play.

It stayed close and Eldridge hit a three-pointer from the right base to make it a 58-55 game with 34.4 seconds to play.

Ahelegbe followed with 1-of-2 from the line with 24.1 seconds to play and, after Koch blocked an Odiakos layup attempt, Moran hit both of his free throw attempts with seven seconds left to seal the win.

The game was close through the first several minutes, but back-to-back threes from Kerwin Dunham sparked 11 unanswered points with Moran burying a three- pointer for a 20-9 lead.

Northern Iowa continued to front run through the first 20 minutes and took a 28-19 lead into the second half.