CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Leading by just two with two minutes to play, Northern Iowa used a 7-0 burst to hold off the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team, 83-76, on Saturday afternoon at the McLeod Center. Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Tulsa) scored a team-high 28 points and both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field in the second half, but the Panthers shot 13 more free throws than the Huskies in the second half. 

David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) added 14 points for NIU, Armandas Plintauskas (Kedainiai, Lithuania) netted a career-best 12 and Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J./Clarendon College) added 10 points. 

Northern Iowa (2-3) went 25-of-36 (69.4 percent) from the free-throw line in the contest while NIU was 16-of-18 (88.9 percent). The Panthers had a 25-10 advantage in second chance points after pulling down 15 offensive rebounds. 

With UNI in front by one early, the Panthers used a 14-0 burst to push their advantage to 21-6 with 8:34 left in the opening half. 

Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia/Seward County CC) ended the run with a layup and Coit made a floater to trim the Panther lead to 15. After a free throw from UNI, Plintauskas knocked in a corner triple and Zion Russell (Upper Marlboro, Md./National Christian Academy) converted at the rim as the Huskies closed to within seven, 22-15, with just under seven minutes left in the half. 

Plintauskas went 4-of-4 from three-point range in the contest. 

A long two from Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill./Iowa Western CC) and a breakaway dunk from Williams off a turnover, helped the Huskies trimmed the deficit to just five, 28-23, with 3:24 to play in the half. 

The Panthers answered with a triple, but NIU came right back with the next six to pull within a pair. Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich./Middle Tennessee) made four free throws, sandwiched around a fadeaway baseline jumper from Williams, cutting the Panther lead to 31-29. 

The Huskies were down just one at the break, 32-31, as Coit made a pair of free throws on the final possession of the half for NIU. The visitors outscored UNI 8-1 in the final two minutes of the half. Coit led the Huskies with 10 first half points, including 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. Bowen Born had 11 to pace UNI.

Williams scored the first six points of the second half, including an old-fashioned three-point play, to give NIU a five-point lead early in the second half. After a bucket by the Panthers, Williams added a triple from the top of the key to give the Huskies a 40-34 advantage less than four minutes into the second period. The guard from Chicago Heights, Ill., scored 23 of his 28 points in the second half. 

NIU (2-5) led by seven after a trifecta from Nutter, his second of the half, but Northern Iowa went on a 16-2 run as the Panthers led 57-50 with just over nine minutes left. 

A pair of free throws and a triple from Williams brought NIU back within three, 60-57, but the Panthers scored the next four to lead by seven with 6:33 to play. 

With the hosts still in front by seven, Williams knocked in a triple with 3:32 remaining to cut the deficit to four, 71-67. The two teams traded basket and UNI then made a free throw to lead by five until Plintauskas drained a triple, cutting the Panther advantage to just a pair, 74-72, with a little over two minutes remaining. 

Northern Iowa scored the next seven however as the Panthers held off the visitors in the final minutes. 

Born scored a game-high 30 points to lead UNI, Landon Wolf added 19 points off the bench while Tytan Anderson scored 16 and Michael Duax added 11 points for the Panthers. 

The Huskies will be back on the road on Wednesday night, Nov. 30, when they travel to Charleston to face Eastern Illinois. Game time against the Panthers is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.