Klint Carlson made a jumper with 16:10 left to shave Northern Iowa's deficit to 30-27 before an 11-5 Salukis run extended their lead to nine. Tywhon Pickford's 3-point play reduced the deficit to six, but Southern Illinois (12-9, 4-4 Missouri Valley) took advantage of the Panthers' four-minute scoring drought with a 9-0 run and led 50-35 with 7:41 to go.
Northern Iowa (10-10, 2-6) went on an 8-0 run to narrow the deficit to 54-46 with 3:21 left, but the Salukis shut the door on the Panthers after calling a timeout and scored six straight to seal the win.
Pippen scored 11 points with 11 rebounds and Marcus Bartley and Armon Fletcher each scored 12 as the Salukis made half their 52 shots. Fletcher also grabbed nine rebounds and had four steals.
Wyatt Lohaus led the Panthers with 15 points and Carlson and Isaiah Brown each scored 10.
