ST. LOUIS — Locked in another typical Valley grind, Northern Iowa simply ran out of steam.
A strong defensive effort was again masked by offensive futility, and the Ramblers eventually pulled away for a 54-50 win in Friday’s Arch Madness quarterfinal matchup at Scottrade Center.
Playing another game just 16 hours after their opening-round win over Evansville, the Panthers gave top-seed Loyola all it could handle The No. 1 seed had never suffered a quarterfinal loss in the current MVC Tournament format, and UNI appeared poised to make history at various points Friday.
But a late offensively futile stretch did UNI in.