ST. LOUIS — With its season on the line, Northern Iowa leaned on its defensive roots and gutted out a win in vintage Panther fashion.
UNI never let Evansville get comfortable, particularly MVC leading scorer Ryan Taylor, and kept the Purple Aces within arm’s length the entire way. The end result was a 60-50 Panther win to open Arch Madness on Thursday at Scottrade Center.
With the win, UNI (16-15) will face top seed Loyola on Friday at noon.
Taylor, who dropped 25 on the Panthers in Evansville and another 26 in Cedar Falls, had no room to breathe the entire night.