The Salukis let a second half lead slip away against a Northern Iowa squad that played without its leading scorer.

SIU (7-16, 4-8 Missouri Valley Conference) fell 58-49 to Northern Iowa (15-9, 5-7 MVC) in Cedar Falls, Iowa Tuesday night. The Salukis held a five-point lead with 11:55 left to go in the game after a jumper from senior forward Mamadou Seck.

But UNI finished the game on an 8-2 run, sparked by Northern Iowa guard Deon Mitchell’s 17 point performance, 13 of which came in the second half. UNI guard Anthony James leads the team with 13.4 points per game, but he sat out Tuesday due to injury.

Junior guard Jeff Early scored a team-high 13 points.

SIU falls into sole possession of ninth place in the MVC with the loss.