Jordan Eglseder and Marc Sonnen scored 10 points apiece to lead Northern Iowa to a 57-40 victory over Bradley in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Saturday.
The top-seeded Panthers (27-4) advance to the championship game for the fourth time. They are looking to become the first team to win back-to-back championships since Creighton in 2002-03.
Adam Koch, the MVC Player of the Year, added seven points and a team-high six rebounds for Northern Iowa, which is 2-1 in MVC championship games.
Andrew Warren led fifth-seeded Bradley (16-15) with 12 points. Sam Maniscalco added 10 points.
Northern Iowa jumped out to a 9-2 lead and never looked back in winning for the fifth time in the last six games.
Ali Farokhmanesh hit a pair of baskets in the first 34 seconds to get Northern Iowa off to a 5-0 start.
