In the eighth straight loss at the McLeod Center, the Salukis tried to clinch the seventh seed in the Missouri Valley Conference standings but the Panthers had other plans.

SIU (12-18, 8-9) stole a win at home Jan. 14 but the University of Northern Iowa (15-14, 9-8) utilized its home court advantage for a 73-54 win over the Salukis.

Sophomore guard Anthony Beane continued to be the best scoring option for the Salukis, Beane finished with 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting.

The SIU defense has been solid as of late but allowed three Panthers to score at least 15 points. Junior Seth Tuttle led UNI 19 points and was 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. He added seven rebounds and six assists as well.

The Salukis will try to win the final game of the season against Illinois State University Saturday at SIU Arena. Coach Barry Hinson said earlier in the season he wanted to reach the nine win plateau and a win Saturday will get SIU to 9-9 in the MVC.

Tyler Dixon can be reached at [email protected], tdixon_de on Twitter or 536-3311 ext. 256.