Northern Iowa clinches 1st NCAA tournament berth since 2016

Trey Campbell hit six 3-pointers and scored 23 points as Northern Iowa defeated UIC 84-69 on Sunday in St. Louis to win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and earn an automatic NCAA bid.

The Panthers (23-12) won the tournament for the sixth time.

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They earned their ninth NCAA appearance and their first since 2016.

Sixth-seeded UNI became the lowest seed to win the tournament and the first team to win four games in four days.

Campbell shot 8-of-13 overall and 6-of-9 from long range, and Northern Iowa shot 63% as a team and went 12-of-23 on 3-pointers.

Ben Schwieger was 7-of-8 shooting, including three 3-pointers, to finish with 18 points.

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Will Hornseth and Leon Bond added 10 points each, and Tristan Smith had a game-high eight rebounds along with nine points.

UIC, the fifth-seeded Flames (19-15), was led by Elijah Crawford, who scored 28 points on 13-of-29 shooting; Ahmad Henderson II added 13, and Rashund Washington Jr. and Jayce Nathaniel had 10 each.

UIC shot 44% against the nation’s top scoring defense (61.1 PPG).

Northern Iowa led all the way and held a 48-41 halftime lead.

After making just one of their first six shots to open the second half, the Panthers made seven in a row, including a pair of 3s from Campbell and another by Schwieger, to push the lead to 13.

The Flames rallied when Nathaniel and Crawford combined for all the points in a 9-2 run to get within six.

Campbell halted that surge with a straightaway 3 that began a 13-2 run, and Northern Iowa finished up by 17, its largest lead, with 37 seconds left.