ST. LOUIS—The Missouri Valley player of the year looked the part when it counted. His Northern Iowa teammates stepped up, too, when the game looked hopeless.Seth Tuttle had 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists, leading the 11th-ranked Panthers back from an 18-point first-half deficit to beat Illinois State 69-60 in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship game on Sunday.The Panthers (30-3) took control with a 25-4 run that erased a 36-22 halftime deficit. Jeremy Morgan had three 3-pointers in the run and Tuttle, the Valley player of the year and tournament MVP, added eight points, often getting loose from constant double-teaming.
”He really exerted his will,” Illinois State coach Dan Muller said. ”When were in zone, they got it in to Tuttle, when we went man, they got it in to Tuttle.”
Daishon Knight had 16 points for fourth-seeded Illinois State (21-12), which needed a win to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. Knight had 25 points in the Redbirds’ semifinal upset of top seed Wichita State.Northern Iowa won the title for the third time in seven years and has won 19 of 20 games.
”That was different than just about every game I’ve been a part of,” coach Ben Jacobson said. ”We had more than our hands full at halftime.”
The winners shot 23 percent in the first half and 54 percent the rest of the way, and held Illinois State to 33 percent in the second half.Deontae Hawkins added 14 points with four 3-pointers for ISU, which did much of the scoring on transition in the first half but couldn’t capitalize on early chances in the second.
”We missed three layups in the first 4 minutes,” Muller said. ”If we make those, we keep the lead even though they’re scoring.”
Illinois State made eight of its first 12 shots, four of them 3-pointers, and led 33-15 with 2:44 to go in the half. Reserve Justin McCloud made all three of his 3-point attempts. The 18-point bulge was four points more than Northern Iowa’s largest margin of defeat in a loss at Wichita State that decided the Valley title in the regular season finale.Northern Iowa began the game just 5 for 27 from the field, three of the shots swatted back by Reggie Lynch.
NOTES—McCloud totaled nine points in the first two tournament games and reached double figures in one of the previous 17 games. … Muller played for the Redbirds’ last tourney title team….ALL-TOURNEY TEAM: Buss also made the all-tournament team for Northern Iowa along Knight and Lynch from Illinois State and Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet.