Ashton's free throws help N Iowa top S Illinois 58-57

Jan 21, 2017, 10:52 pm

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Jordan Ashton scored 14 points, including a pair of free throw with 15 seconds left, and Northern Iowa overcame a 12-point second-half deficit to beat Southern Illinois 58-57 on Saturday night.

Ashton scored 10 of his 14 in the second half for Northern Iowa (8-11, 3-5 Missouri Valley) and was perfect from the field (3 of 3), the arc (2 of 2) and the free-throw line (2 of 2) in the final 20 minutes.

Trailing 54-42 with 8:23 remaining, the Panthers outscored Southern Illinois 12-1 over the next seven minutes to close it to 55-54. A dunk by Thik Bol with 1:21 left to play put the Salukis in front by three, 57-54, but a layup from Klint Carlson and Ashton's free throws gave Northern Iowa a 58-57 lead with 15 seconds left.

Northern Iowa led 27-26 at halftime, but the Salukis used an 11-2 run to take a 36-29 lead with 16:50 remaining and eventually pushed the lead to lead to 12.

Armon Fletcher had 16 points and six rebounds for Southern Illinois (11-10, 4-4).