No. 18 Northern Iowa 59, Southern Illinois 52: Seth Tuttle had 13 points and 10 rebounds as the visiting Panthers took control in the second half to extend their winning streak to eight games.

Paul Jesperson tied a career high with 13 points off the bench as Northern Iowa (19-2, 8-1 Missouri Valley Conference) remained one game behind Wichita State and set up a showdown against the visiting Shockers on Saturday. Nate Buss added 11 points to help the Panthers win for only the fourth time in their last 18 visits to Southern Illinois.

Backup center Ibby Djimde scored a career-high 10 points for the Salukis (9-13, 2-7), who tumbled to their ninth defeat in 11 games. Reserves Deion Lavender and Jalen Pendleton added eight points apiece as Southern Illinois' bench accounted for 29 points.

Three straight jumpers by Djimde gave the Salukis their last lead five minutes into the second half before Matt Bohannon, Jesperson and Buss buried 3-pointers in a 13-2 spurt as Northern Iowa opened a 43-34 lead with 12 minutes left. The Panthers continued to pull away as Tuttle sandwiched a pair of layups around another 3-pointer by Buss to make it 50-35 with just over nine minutes to play.

Jesperson hit a pair of 3-pointers as Northern Iowa bolted to a 13-5 lead but Lavender all of his points during a 13-1 run as Southern Illinois surged ahead 18-14 en route to taking a 26-23 advantage into the break. It marked the first time the Panthers trailed at halftime since facing a six-point deficit versus Iowa on Dec. 20.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Panthers held their ninth straight opponent to 60 points or fewer and posted their eighth straight conference win, tied for the second-longest streak in school history. ... Salukis leading scorer Anthony Beane, who was limited to a season-low one point in a loss at Northern Iowa on Jan. 7, scored five on 2-of-9 shooting Wednesday. ... Jesperson, who battled illness that limited him to a total of nine minutes in two games last week, had scored a combined 12 points in his previous eight contests.