Redbirds Fall Short On Last-Second Three Pointer By UNI

[January 26, 2015]  NORMAL - Illinois State guard Paris Lee scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, including a layup with less than 30 seconds left that gave his team a two-point lead, but a three-pointer with five seconds left gave No. 19 Northern Iowa (18-2, 7-1 MVC) a 54-53 win and thwarted the Illinois State (12-8, 4-4 MVC) upset bid Sunday afternoon on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.

Bobby Hunter led the Redbirds with 13 points in the victory, including a 3-for-5 effort from long distance, and Lee and Reggie Lynch each added 12 points for ISU in the loss. UNI forward Seth Tuttle led all scorers in the game with 21 points for the Panthers.

Four points from Lynch gave the Redbirds and early 4-2 lead, but the Panthers answered with four-straight points to take a 6-4 lead at the first media time out of the first half. UNI extended that lead out to 10-6, before DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell connected on a pair of free throw attempts to cut the lead back to two points with just over 11 minutes left in the first half.

A steal in the paint by Lynch led to a Lee fast-break layup out of the timeout, which tied the game at 10-10. A second-chance bucket by Marvin Singleton later gave the Panthers the lead back at 12-10. The back-and-forth continued to a tie of 18-18, after Bobby Hunter connected from outside the arch with just over four minutes remaining.

A three-pointer by Seth Tuttle on the ensuing UNI possession put the Panthers back up 21-18, but a jumper by Daishon Knight cut the UNI lead to one point at 21-20 seconds later. Illinois State then took its first lead since the 19-minute mark when Lynch used the backboard and scored on a layup with 30 seconds left in the half. UNI held for the last shot and Tuttle was fouled with less than a second left on a dunk attempt by MiKyle McIntosh. Tuttle hit the first of two free throws but missed the second, as the two squads headed into the locker room at halftime tied at 24-24.

The Panthers scored the first five points of the second half to take a 29-24 lead, before Knight connected on a jumper just under three minutes in to cut the lead back to three points at 29-26. The Redbirds answered with a 7-2 run, capped off on a three-pointer from Hunter, to take the lead at 33-31 with 14:51 left in the game. A three-pointer by Lee a minute later gave the Redbirds a four-point lead at 37-33 and the crowd exploded when Lee hit his second three-pointer in less than a minute to extend the ISU lead to 40-33 and force UNI to call a time out.

A fast-break layup by Hunter soon after gave the Redbirds a nine-point lead at 42-33 with under 12 minutes remaining in the game. The Redbird lead grew to as many as 12 points at 46-34 after a layup by Knight, before UNI answered with an 11-0 run to cut the ISU lead to 46-45 after a layup by Marvin Singleton with 6:55 left in the game.

Lee connected on a jumper with four minutes left in the game to end a six-plus minute scoring drought for the Redbirds and extend the lead to 48-45. A three-pointer by Singleton with just under three minutes left gave UNI the lead back at 49-48, but a three-pointer from Hunter put the Redbirds back up 51-49 a minute later. Tuttle then scored in the paint to knot the game at 51-51 and the two teams traded possessions, until UNI turned the ball over with 43.5 left in game.

Illinois State called time out to set up its next possession and it worked to perfection, as Lee scored on a running layup with 26.7 seconds left on the clock as the Redbirds called time out to set up the defense for UNI’s final possession. The Panthers missed and Knight was fouled, setting up free throws. However, he missed the first of a one-and-one and UNI moved down the court and Buss connected on a three-pointer from the corner to give UNI a 54-53 lead with 5.2 seconds left in the game. That set up the final shot, as Knight drove to the basket but came up short, as the Panthers came away with the one-point win.

Illinois State continues its brief home stand Wednesday, Jan. 28, when it hosts Missouri State at Redbird Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m., with the game set to be streamed live on ESPN3 as part of the MVC TV package. The Redbirds defeated the Bears in their previous meeting by a score of 69-55 on Jan. 11 in Springfield, Missouri.

[Michael Williams, Illinois State University]
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