UNI Advances To MVC Tourney Title Game

UNI is one victory away from the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) tournament championship in St. Louis. For the fifth time in program history, the 11th-ranked Panthers advanced to title game with a 63-49 win over Loyola (Chicago) at Scottrade Center in St. Louis Saturday evening (March 7, 2015).

UNI (29-3 overall) used a balanced effort from Seth Tuttle (13 points), Marvin Singleton (11 points) and Jeremy Morgan (11 points) to score its second straight double-digit victory at this year's MVC Tournament. Morgan added a career-high four steals against the Ramblers.

UNI shot 51.2 percent from the floor for the game - marking the 13th time this season the Panthers have shot 50 percent for better from the field. UNI drained 56.3 percent of its shots in the second half.

The Panthers led from start to finish and opened up its largest lead of 17 points with 11:42 left in the second half. UNI led Loyola at the half, 32-23.

Loyola (19-13 overall) was led in scoring by Montel James with 14 points. Milton Doyle chipped in with 11 points off the bench.

Second-seeded UNI will play fourth-seeded Illinois State for the title and the league's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The Panthers have now won 18 of 19 heading into Sunday's 1 p.m. title game, which will be televised by CBS.

UNI beat the Salukis by one and 19 during the regular season. The Panthers defeated Illinois State in the 2009 MVC Tournament Championship game in overtime, 60-57.

NOTES: UNI improved to 5-0 as a No. 2 seed at the MVC Tournament ... UNI won MVC Tournament titles in 2004, 2009 and 2010 ... today was the first meeting between UNI and Loyola at the MVC Tournament ... UNI enjoys a 9-2 lead in the all-time series vs. Loyola ... UNI is 18-19 all-time at the MVC Tournament ... UNI has won three straight MVC semifinal matchups (2009, 2010, 2015) ... head coach Ben Jacobson is 9-6 all-time at the MVC Tournament ... UNI is 28-1 when holding the opposition to less than 70 points ... UNI recorded its 14th road/neutral victory this season (tops in the nation) ... Seth Tuttle became the sixth player in UNI history to surpass 1,700 career points (1,704).