Bowen Born rallies Northern Iowa, but Panthers fall in Missouri Valley Tournament
ST. LOUIS — Northern Iowa basketball’s time in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament came to an end on Friday when top-seeded Bradley handed the Panthers a 72-66 loss.
A Panthers victory would have been a significant upset. Bradley defeated UNI by a combined 23 points between two regular-season contests, and the top seed has been eliminated in the quarterfinal round of the tournament just once.
“This is the best eighth seed I’ve ever played,” Bradley coach Brian Wardle said. “It’s a scary game, because they have guys like Born that [sic] can make tough shots all over the floor.”
But Bowen Born (34 points) did make things interesting for the 8-seed Panthers, who dropped to 14-18.
The Braves rode Rienk Mast’s 20 points to a 34-28 lead at halftime, as Bradley held all of UNI’s top scorers to single digits. Michael Duax recorded eight points in the opening half, but he also collected a couple of fouls.
Bradley missed eight of its last nine shots before the buzzer as UNI cut into the lead.
The second half started out poorly for the Panthers. Duax — who scored 19 points against Illinois State on Thursday, his first college postseason game — picked up his fourth foul with 18:14 left to play. But that seemed to light a fire under UNI.
“For his first game down here, (Duax) had a heck of a game, and so his foul trouble was challenging for us just because he’s played so well,” UNI coach Ben Jacobson said.
“In a game like this, where a lot of things are gonna happen around the rim, whether it’s rebounding or plays that need to be made, he’s a guy that can do that for us.”
Northern Iowa outscored Bradley 20-13 to start the second half and take a one-point lead with 12:14 to go. The last time UNI had the lead was when the Panthers were up 6-4 in the first half. Born scored 13 points while the Panthers held Mast to two in that span.
It remained a back-and-forth game, although Bradley was able to take back the lead late. Born missed a 3-point attempt and the Braves held on to a three-point lead with under a minute to play. He fouled Mast with 30 seconds remaining, and the Braves built a five-point advantage.
Born and Mast (30 points) both hit career highs in scoring.
Bowen Born puts Panthers on his back
Bradley has an obvious advantage against UNI (and several of its conference opponents): size.
Mast, the Braves’ top player, stands 6-foot-9 and can knock down shots from pretty much anywhere on the court. Bradley’s next-highest scorer and the MVC Defensive Player of the Year, Malevy Leons, is 6-6.
Born comes in at 5-foot-11, which means Bradley’s top players are 7-10 inches taller than UNI’s top scorer. And yet, Born found a way to make it work.
“It was just trying to stay aggressive for whoever they put on me,” Born said. “I don’t necessarily think of the things I can’t do. But when I see that matchup, I think of the things I can do. So, using my speed, being low, things like that.”
Bradley held him to seven points in the first half. There were still times he was able to do what the Panthers’ sophomore does best: hit threes and cut through opposing defenses in the paint.
There was little the Braves could do to slow him down in the second half. He made five 3-pointers, matching a career high.
“We tried denying Born,” Wardle said. “He’s really hard to deny because he cuts so well, and he’s so shifty and quick. We were flying around trying to do our best on him. He’s a really good scorer, and when he gets going, it doesn’t matter.”
Born scored his 30th point of the game with 2:21 left. That made him the first player to reach 30 in the tournament since Evansville's DJ Balentine in 2014, when he posted 31 against Wichita State.
He missed a couple of shots late that would've been the difference for Northern Iowa, but the Panthers wouldn't have been in the game at all without his second-half success.
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Bowen Born scores 34 in UNI's Arch Madness loss to Bradley
