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Ashton’s free throws help Panthers hold off Salukis

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Jordan Ashton scored 14 points, including a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left, and Northern Iowa overcame a 12-point second-half deficit to beat Southern Illinois 58-57 on Saturday night.

Ashton scored 10 of his 14 in the second half for Northern Iowa (8-11, 3-5 Missouri Valley) and was perfect from the field (3 of 3), the arc (2 of 2) and the free-throw line (2 of 2) in the final 20 minutes.

Trailing 54-42 with 8:23 remaining, the Panthers outscored Southern Illinois 12-1 during the next seven minutes to close it to 55-54. A dunk by Thik Bol with 1:21 left to play put the Salukis in front by three, 57-54, but a layup from Klint Carlson and Ashton’s free throws gave Northern Iowa a 58-57 lead with 15 seconds left.

Northern Iowa led 27-26 at halftime, but the Salukis used an 11-2 run to take a 36-29 lead with 16:50 remaining and eventually pushed the lead to 12.

Armon Fletcher had 16 points and six rebounds for Southern Illinois (11-10, 4-4).

Northern Iowa 58, Southern Illinois 57

At Carbondale, Ill.

N. IOWA (8-11) — Koch 5-9 2-4 12, Carlson 4-10 0-0 10, McCloud 0-2 0-0 0, Ashton 5-8 2-2 14, Morgan 2-6 2-2 6, McDonnell 1-1 0-0 3, Friedman 0-0 0-0 0, Haldeman 4-9 2-2 13, Brown 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21-45 8-10 58.

S. ILLINOIS (11-10) — Bol 1-3 2-4 4, O’Brien 4-13 0-1 8, Fletcher 6-12 2-3 16, Lloyd 3-9 0-0 6, Rodriguez 3-9 0-0 9, Stradnieks 1-2 0-0 3, Vincent 4-7 2-2 11, Wiley 0-1 0-0 0, A.Cook 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS 22-57 6-10 57.

Halftime–UNI 27-26. 3-Point Goals–UNI 8-22 (Haldeman 3-8, Carlson 2-4, Ashton 2-5, McDonnell 1-1, McCloud 0-1, Morgan 0-3), S. Illinois 7-23 (Rodriguez 3-6, Fletcher 2-7, Stradnieks 1-2, Vincent 1-3, A.Cook 0-1, O’Brien 0-2, Lloyd 0-2). Fouled Out–None. Rebounds–UNI 29 (Koch 11), S. Illinois 31 (O’Brien 8). Assists–UNI 6 (Morgan 3), S. Illinois 9 (Rodriguez 3). Total Fouls–UNI 10, S. Illinois 11. A–5,015.

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