No. 12 Northern Iowa 71, Bradley 46: Nate Buss scored a season-high 23 points off the bench as the Panthers pummeled the Braves in the second half of the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in St. Louis.

Seth Tuttle, who was named the conference MVP earlier in the week, tallied 10 points, 11 rebounds and five assists as Northern Iowa (28-3) won a MVC tournament game for the first time since claiming the title in 2010. Deon Mitchell contributed 14 points and Jeremy Morgan added 11 for the second-seeded Panthers, who outscored Bradley 44-21 behind 57.7 percent shooting after the break and will face Indiana State or Loyola Chicago in Saturday's semifinals.

Omari Grier had 16 points to pace the 10th-seeded Braves (9-24), who concluded their season by dropping seven of eight. Josh Cunningham contributed 14 points and six boards while Auston Barnes had seven points and eight rebounds.

Despite getting one first-half point from Tuttle, Northern Iowa held Bradley to 3-of-14 shooting over the first 14-plus minutes and rolled to a 21-8 advantage on a 3-pointer from Morgan with 6:18 left. The Braves returned the favor over the remainder of the first half, hitting seven of their final eight shots – including two triples from Grier in the final 1:08 – to pull within 27-25 at intermission.

Bradley trailed 34-32 with 16½ minutes remaining before a field-goal drought of nearly 5½ minutes allowed Northern Iowa to pull away behind Buss (nine points) and Tuttle (seven points and three assists) during the Panthers’ 28-7 game-breaking run. The Braves, who did not convert a field goal over the final 9:12, saw the deficit balloon to 28 on Buss’ third and final 3-pointer with 3:11 to go.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Panthers have won eight of the last nine meetings, including all three this season by double figures. … Bradley became the ninth opponent to score fewer than 50 points against Northern Iowa. … The Panthers finished 10-of-18 beyond the arc, marking the eighth straight contest in which they hit at least eight 3-pointers.