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Feb. 12, 2005

Box Score

Junior guard Ben Jacobson (Sioux City, Iowa) hit a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left to lift the University of Northern Iowa to a 65-64 win over Illinois State Saturday afternoon at Redbird Arena.

After Trey Guidry had hit a pair of foul shots to put Illinois State up, 64-63, with 32 seconds left, the Panthers ran the clock down and isolated Jacobson at the top of the key. He drove down the right side of the lane, and as he went up for his shot, Guidry fouled him to send him to the line. Jacobson's final free throws capped a run where he scored 13 of UNI's final 15 points over the last 6:34 of the game. He finished with a team-high 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including nailing four three-pointers.

Illinois State had one final chance to win the game, but Gregg Alexander's three-pointer from the left corner missed, and Grant Stout (New Sharon, Iowa) grabbed the rebound to secure the victory.

The game was close throughout, as neither team led by more than six points. There were eight ties and 11 lead changes, including two ties and four lead changes in the last minute.

The Redbirds held a 29-27 lead at halftime. Lorenzo Gordon had 10 points in the first half and Alexander had seven. Erik Crawford (Oakdale, Minn.) had nine of his 11 points in the opening 20 minutes.

UNI shot 47.4 from the field for the game, including 51.7 percent in the second half (15-for-29), while ISU managed just 39.1 percent from the field. For the second straight game, UNI struggled with its free throw shooting, hitting just 5-of-13. The Redbirds connected on 23-of-28 from the line.

Eric Coleman (Maplewood, Minn.) had 10 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Panthers, and Stout had eight points, four blocked shots and a game-high 10 rebounds. Guidry led ISU with 20 points.

With the win, UNI improves to 17-8 overall, 8-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference, and moves into a third-place tie with Illinois State and SMS in the league standings. ISU falls to 16-8 overall, 8-6 in conference games. The Panthers return home on Wednesday (Feb. 16) to face Drake at the UNI-Dome, with tipoff set for 7:05 p.m.