PEORIA, Ill. ? Northern Iowa guard Johnny Moran made a 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds remaining to lift the visiting Panthers (17-6, 11-1 MVC) to a 61-58 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball victory against Bradley (13-10, 7-5 MVC) Tuesday night at Carver Arena. The Panthers rallied from an eight-point deficit, 54-46, with 3:58 remaining by making five 3-pointers down the stretch to earn their school-record 11th consecutive victory.
Bradley sophomore guard Sam Manicalco scored a career-best 19 points to lead three Braves in double-figures. Senior forward Theron Wilson added 13 and senior center David Collins scored a season-best 11 points, while also grabbing a team-high six rebounds. UNI center Jordan Egleseder scored all of his 12 points in the first half to share team-high scoring honors with forward Adam Koch, who enjoyed a perfect shooting night by making his only field goal attempt and all 10 of his free throw tries. Freshman guard Ali Farokhmanesh added 11 points, highlighted by three treys during UNI's late-game rally.
After closing an eight-point deficit to 30-26 at halftime, Bradley claimed its first lead of the game, 39-38, when Maniscalco converted an old-fashioned 3-point play with 12:24 left. Freshman guard Eddren McCain completed Bradley's 10-0 run with a wide open 3-pointer for a 44-38 bulge with 9:12 remaining. The Panthers twice pulled within two, but Maniscalco, Sam Singh and Wilson all made a pair of free throws during a 6-2 Bradley spurt that gave the Braves a 54-46 cushion with 3:58 remaining.
Farokhmanesh missed a 3-point try on UNI's next possession and the Panthers were just 2-for-9 from 3-point range at that point in the game. But after Bradley's Dodie Dunson missed a corner trey attempt on Bradley's next possession, Farokhmanesh suddenly heated up. His first 3-pointer of the night pulled the Panthers to within 54-49 with 3:21 left. After Maniscalco missed a 3-point try, Farokhmanesh hit again to narrow the deficit to 54-52 with 2:16 to go.
Bradley appeared to collect itself and gain some breathing room when Dunson answered Farokhmanesh's second trey with a driving layup, but he was unable to complete an old-fashioned 3-point play. Farokhmanesh missed his next 3-point try before Maniscalco made two free throws to give the Braves a 58-52 lead with 1:38 remaining. Moran hit a trey out of a timeout to pull UNI within 58-55 with 1:29 to go, then forced a steal at the other end. After Farokhmanesh's transition layup attempt was blocked out of bounds by Chris Roberts, he delivered his third trifecta of the rally to knot the score at 58-58 with 47 seconds to go. Maniscalco missed a tough, left-handed layup in traffic with 17 seconds left, setting the stage for Moran's game-winning shot.
Through the first 16-minutes, 39 seconds of the second half, Bradley had forced the Panthers into 10 turnovers and had limited UNI to just 10 field goal attempts. UNI made 5-of-7 from the floor in the final 3:21 to finish 9-for-16 from the field in the second half. Overall, the Panthers shot 52.5 percent (21-40). Bradley made 10-of-26 field goal attempts in each half, shooting just 38.5 percent from the floor. The Braves hit the glass, though, outrebounding UNI 30-25 and turning 13 offensive rebounds into a 10-5 advantage in second-chance points.
The Braves will head back out on the road for their next two games, both of which will be televised on the MVC-TV Network (FS Midwest, FS Indiana, FS Kansas City, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and Metro Sports in Kansas City). Bradley will visit Drake for a 7:05 p.m. tip Saturaday night, followed by a 7:35 p.m. contest Feb. 11 at Creighton.
