Southern Beats UNI to Sweep Iowa Road Swing, 59-57

Saturday, February 21

Cedar Falls, IA

5 PM

Southern Illinois University

14-15,8-10MVC

UNI

18-11,10-8MVC

Southern Ill.

UNI

Prince Aligbe

Photo by: Jordan Kruse

02/21/2026 | 10:36:00 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Jordan Kruse, SIUSalukis.com

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Southern Illinois got the clutch stop it needed in a 59-57 victory over UNI on Saturday night. The win was Southern's first in Cedar Falls since 2019, and marked the end of a long week in the Hawkeye State.

"I just told them at halftime, 'Man, you guys are better, you are better, and you've gotta start believing that.'" Head Coach Scott Nagy said. "And we played that way."

On an emotionally-filled senior night for UNI, SIU set the tone of the game from the beginning, shooting efficiently and getting out to an early lead.

A big part of the early effort was the long-distance shooting of Drew Steffe, who went 3-for-3 in the first half. Southern led by as much as 18, but the Panthers would not go down quietly.

The Panthers came back to tie the game at 30 before Steffe hit his third triple of the half with five seconds to go, and SIU entered the break up by three.

UNI came out firing in the second half and took their first lead on a Will Hornseth layup at 37-35, a short-lived advantage as SIU took back control less than two minutes later, and never relinquished it.

SIU began attacking the rim with authority as it stretched its lead to 11 once again, leading 55-44 at the 6:28 mark thanks to contributions from House, Davion Sykes, and Jalen Haynes.

From then, SIU would struggle to score, but Quel'Ron House knocked in two buckets to keep Southern in front as UNI's Trey Campbell scored six points in a row in the final two minutes. The Cedar Falls native had the ball down 59-57 with a chance to tie or win the game for his team at the buzzer, but the Salukis were able to get the ball out of his hands and force a wild shot to hold on for the win.

"We defended the crap out of 'em," Steffe said. "We're one of the best defensive teams in the country, so when we play defense like this, no one can beat us."

House led SIU with 21 points and five assists, while Steffe knocked in four threes in a 14-point night.

UP NEXT
SIU comes home to face Indiana State for Senior Night on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

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