Men's Basketball Falls to Northern Iowa in MVC Tournament

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - - In another conference tournament game filled with intensity and drama, Belmont University men's basketball dropped a hard-fought 67-62 decision to Northern Iowa Friday in the quarterfinal round of the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament from Enterprise Center.
 
Belmont entered play confident – having won eight of its previous nine games – including a command performance in victory over Valparaiso Thursday.
 
Northern Iowa also entered play having won five of its last six games – including its final regular season game at Southern Illinois.
 
Belmont won the first three meetings in the series – including a convincing victory at Northern Iowa earlier in the season. The Panthers won in January in Nashville, but the Bruins played without standout guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie.
 
Belmont and Northern Iowa mirrored each other in many statistical and efficiency categories. And with two talented rosters and well-coached teams, a highly-competitive was expected.
 
Early 3-pointers from Gillespie and Malik Dia around a Jayce Willingham jump hook gave Belmont an 8-4 lead.
 
From there, both teams endured a lengthy scoring drought as defenses showcased physicality and attention to detail.
 
A Willingham 3-pointer, two Gillespie baskets and a transition 3-pointer from Cade Tyson off an assist from Keishawn Davidson capped a 10-0 Belmont run to give the Bruins a 19-14 lead at the 9:36 mark.
 
Belmont got some clean 3-point looks midway through the first half to extend the lead, but shots rimmed out.
 
The Bruin defense was so strong that Northern Iowa went 13 minutes before scoring its first points in the paint.
 
But timely long, two-point jump shots from Trey Campbell kept Northern Iowa within reach.
 
Consecutive Tytan Anderson baskets gave the Panthers a 22-21 lead.
 
Dia would respond with a 3-pointer heading into the final media timeout of the first half.
 
From there, several significant momentum swings helped Northern Iowa take the lead.
 
The Panthers would shoot 11 free throws in the final 3:57 of the first half.
 
In one instance, Northern Iowa appeared to throw an errant pass out of bounds before Michael Duax preserved possession for the Panthers, with Bowen Born ultimately being fouled on a desperation 3-point attempt.
 
And though Gillespie and Brigham Rogers would combine to score Belmont's final eight points of the first half, layins from Anderson and Jacob Hutson in the final 55 seconds of the half gave Northern Iowa a 37-32 lead.
 
Belmont limited Northern Iowa to 36 percent shooting in the first half, but the Panthers went 13-for-15 from the free throw line.
 
Gillespie led Belmont with 11 first-half points.
 
Dia was big to open the second half, as he scored Belmont's first six points to get the Bruins within 39-38.
 
But given the quality of halfcourt defense, neither team could orchestrate a major scoring run.
 
Tyson provided two free throws and a determined baseline reverse layin to give Belmont a 44-43 lead with 12:58 left.
 
Gillespie would keep Belmont in front before a Hutson score, a Nate Heise 10-footer and an Anderson putback gave Northern Iowa a 51-46 lead.
 
Gillespie would again deliver a driving basket before Tyson made a pull-up jump shot to get Belmont within one.
 
Moments later, Tyson and Heise got tangled up on a Northern Iowa offensive possession.
 
Tyson was called for his fourth personal foul with 7:20 left, which was then elevated to a flagrant one foul.
 
The sequence led to a gigantic 3-point possession - one Heise free throw and a Heise short jump shot – to give Northern Iowa a 54-50 lead.
 
Belmont responded, as Davidson made a straight-on 3-pointer to again cut the margin to one point.
 
Then after a steal, Dia scored along the baseline to give Belmont a 55-54 lead with 6:09 left.
 
As Dia went downcourt, he was assessed a technical foul during a verbal exchange.
 
Much like the Tyson sequence, Northern Iowa took full advantage of the situation, with Born making one free throw and Hutson making a 3-pointer to give the Panthers the lead. After two empty offensive possessions – including an empty trip from the free throw line -  Heise made two more free throws to push the margin to five, 60-55, with 4:04 left.
 
A misconnection on a Belmont inbounds pass led to Hutson being fouled going into the under-four media timeout.
 
The Bruins needed a momentum swing of their own and they would receive one.
 
Hutson missed both free throws before Davidson buried a tough wing 3-pointer to get Belmont within 60-58 with 3:32 left.
 
Northern Iowa again turned to Anderson, who cleaned up his own missed shot to push the lead back to four.
 
Anderson then blocked a Davidson shot before Tyson tipped it home to make the score 62-60 with 2:35 left.
 
Following a timeout, Brigham Rogers would deny Anderson at the rim and Belmont secured possession with a chance to tie or take the lead.
 
Davidson freed himself for an open, straight-on 3-pointer with 2:03 left that would have put the Bruins ahead, but his shot rimmed out.
 
Northern Iowa grabbed the defensive rebound and worked its next offensive possession.
 
Belmont defended multiple actions well before Heise was forced to take a contested, 28-footer at the end of the shot clock.
 
The long rebound came out near the free throw line, where Hutson secured a huge offensive rebound.
 
With a fresh possession, the Panthers used a ball screen to free Campbell, who dribbled left and made a wing 3-pointer with 1:17 left to give Northern Iowa a 65-60 lead.
 
After Gillespie and Born exchanged missed shots, Gillespie went through the entire defense and scored with 36 seconds left to get Belmont within 65-62.
 
Needing to extend the game, Belmont went for a steal before ultimately fouling Campbell with 19 seconds left.
 
Campbell made the first free throw but missed the second.
 
As Willingham passed the ball to Gillespie to race into the frontcourt, the whistle blew mysteriously to stop play for a monitor review, presumably to check time remaining.
 
The sequence required Belmont to return to the backcourt and start a new possession against a set Northern Iowa defense.
 
Belmont would miss a 3-point attempt with 12 seconds left before Anderson added one free throw to provide the final margin.
 
It was a gut-wrenching result, as Belmont had played stern, purposeful defense for 40 minutes, in a game that featured five ties, 12 lead changes and neither team leading by more than five points.
 
Belmont held Northern Iowa to 33 percent shooting – its second-lowest field goal percentage game of the season. Moreover, Belmont limited the Northern Iowa all-conference guard duo of Bowen Born and Nate Heise to 4-for-21 shooting.
 
The Panthers took advantage of 11 second-chance points in the second half.
 
Northern Iowa outshot Belmont from the free throw line, 29-14.
 
Gillespie led four Belmont players in double figures with 17 points, six assists and two steals. Dia had 14 points, four rebounds and two steals. Tyson provided 11 points and five rebounds while Davidson had 10 points, two rebounds and two steals.
 
Willingham had a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Anderson led Northern Iowa (19-13) with 19 points.
 
Belmont, which posted a 14th consecutive 20-win season, is 20-13.

Belmont University men's basketball has been a postseason fixture the last two decades, including nine berths to the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins have won 20 conference championships since 2006 - third-most nationally over that span (Gonzaga, Kansas). Belmont has won 20 or more games in 13 consecutive seasons (Gonzaga, Kansas, Oregon, does not include '24) and 19 or game games in 19 consecutive seasons (Gonzaga, Kansas, San Diego State). Belmont is among select programs with two or more first-round selections in the NBA Draft over the last five years (Ben Sheppard, Dylan Windler). Belmont University men's basketball boasts an NCAA-leading 19 CoSIDA Academic All-America selections since 2001 and is the only NCAA Division I program to make the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) Honor Roll every year of existence