ST. LOUIS -- Jeremy Morgan scored 18 points and Northern Iowa made six free throws in the last 28 seconds to defeat Southern Illinois 66-60 in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley tournament on Thursday.
The fourth-seeded Panthers (20-12) face league champion Wichita State in Saturday's early semifinal.
Northern Iowa led 29-28 at the half and built the lead to 12 before the fifth-seeded Salukis (22-10) battled back. A 3-point play by Armon Fletcher tied the game at 56 with 2:18 to play. Both teams had a pair of empty possessions before Morgan made a pair of free throws at 1:15. Sean O'Brien tied it at 1:01 but 14 seconds later Wes Washpun made a tough layup for Northern Iowa.
Then Fletcher missed a 3-pointer and Morgan made two more free throws with 28 seconds remaining. Anthony Bean quickly scored for Southern Illinois but Matt Bohannon and Klint Carlson clinched it at the foul line. Northern Iowa was 15 of 18 from the line in the second half.
Beane had 17 points and O'Brien had 12 points and 12 rebounds for SIU.
