NORMAL, Ill. - With its floor general sitting on the bench, no timeouts remaining and its championship hopes hanging in the balance, the University of Northern Iowa basketball team was forced to ad lib Tuesday night.

The result couldn't have been better rehearsed for the Panthers.

Adam Koch rebounded a Johnny Moran missed lay-up and put it in as time expired to help UNI sneak out of Redbird Arena with a 69-67 double-overtime win over Illinois State.

"You can say each win is the same, but this one was pretty special tonight," Koch said. "We played tough the whole night, on their floor and their Senior Night. This was special."

Now, UNI (19-10, 13-4 MVC) can earn at least a share of its first Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title with a victory Saturday night at home against Evansville. Creighton (24-6, 13-4) remained tied with UNI for first after its 65-59 win at Missouri State. The Bluejays host Illinois State Saturday.

If UNI and Creighton win or both lose Saturday, UNI will earn the top seed for the conference tournament March 5-8 in St. Louis.

"We put ourselves in position," UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. "It comes down to 40 minutes of basketball on our home court. We fought hard enough to keep ourselves in the middle of a championship."

Just 18 days ago, it seemed like the Panthers would run away and hide with a three-game cushion. Then, after three Valley losses in four games, many were ready to write them off.

"We didn't say it, but in reality we knew we had to get this win," said senior Travis Brown, who came off the bench to pump in 10 points and seven rebounds. "The inter-drive was there tonight. We wanted it bad."

Illinois State's Emmanuel Holloway scored with 25.5 seconds left in the second overtime to tie it at 67-all.

But Jacobson, who elected to go with the same five players - Koch, Moran, Brown, Ali Farokhmanesh and Lucas O'Rear - for the final 17 minutes and 55 seconds of the contest, relied on Moran to carve something up as starting point guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe was on the bench and UNI had no timeouts remaining.

"The (final) play got so discombobulated," Moran said. "I just kept dribbling it."

Finally, Moran used a high ball screen to get free toward the basket. As the 6-foot-1 guard drove in, Koch's defender slid over to help. Moran's running lay-up missed and Koch was all alone for the putback.

"I wasn't sure how much time was left, but I wasn't going to try and tip it in and risk missing it," Koch said. "As soon as it left my hand, I knew I got it off in time."

The officials reviewed it on the television monitor to verify its original call. Seconds later, it was confirmed and the Panthers had their eighth road win in nine league games. It also was UNI's 19th win - the most under Jacobson - and the 13th conference victory set a new school record.

"We've just been trying to stay as close as ever this week as a team," Moran said. "We did a great job tonight. We had some tough plays go against us, but we hung with it."

Brown helped get the game into the second overtime, grabbing a rebound off a missed 3 by Ali Farokhmanesh and putting it in with 12.5 seconds left to tie the game.

"I felt like I might have traveled," Brown said. "I was stuck under the hoop. Fortunately, it went in."

Illinois State (22-7, 11-6) had several opportunities to pull out the game. Osiris Eldridge missed a long jumper to end regulation, and Lloyd Phillips misfired on a driving layup to conclude the first overtime.

Ignited by Koch, who had 25 points and seven rebounds, the Panthers seized the moment. Koch tallied 10 of UNI's 14 points in the two overtimes, including a go-ahead 3-pointer in the second overtime.

"We didn't handle him at all," said Redbird coach Tim Jankovich of Koch, who didn't make a field goal in the teams' meeting last month. "He's a difficult guy to guard and gets a lot of calls. He's got a great knack for creating contact and you have to give him credit for that."

ISU's Champ Oguchi said, "He's their best player."

It was a much-needed performance for Koch after compiling 13 points and eight turnovers in his last two games.

"He's had a big-time year for us and he came through big-time tonight," Jacobson said.

Brandon Sampay had a career-high 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Redbirds, who shot just 35.7 percent. Still, Illinois State forced 17 UNI turnovers and owned a 19-2 edge at one stretch in second-chance points.

"More than anything, it speaks to the group of guys we have right now," Jacobson said. "The 10 guys we suit up, they're tough. We handled adversity early in the year and a little adversity the last 10 days.

"I could tell from the get-go tonight, we were here to fight."

Because of that, a championship is in UNI's reach.

SHORT SHOTS: Regardless of Saturday's result, the Panthers will be the No. 1 or 2 seed at the conference tournament - their highest seeding since earning the No. 2 in 2003-04. UNI won the tournament that year. … UNI has won four of the last six meetings against Illinois State at Redbird Arena. … Eldridge, the league's preseason player of the year, was 3-for-13 from the field and had only nine points - the second time UNI has held him under double figures this season.

Contact Matt Coss at (319) 291-1468 or matt.coss@wcfcourier.com

N. Iowa Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Koch 41 7-12 9-12 7 0 3 25

Eglseder 21 4-5 3-4 6 1 2 11

Farokhmanesh 40 1-10 1-2 5 5 2 4

Ahelegbe 24 3-8 0-0 2 2 1 7

Moran 39 2-6 0-2 8 1 2 5

Brown 34 3-5 2-2 7 1 1 10

Dunham 13 1-2 0-0 1 0 0 3

O'Rear 34 2-4 0-0 8 4 4 4

Rodenberg 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0

Team 3

Totals 250 23-52 15-22 47 14 18 69

Ill. State Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Sampay 41 8-15 3-5 12 1 3 19

Eldridge 33 3-13 2-4 6 1 4 9

Holloway 46 5-13 1-1 2 2 3 13

Oguchi 39 5-12 1-1 6 3 3 13

Holtz 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Rubin 7 0-1 0-0 1 1 0 0

Phillips 40 3-9 2-4 2 5 1 10

Odzic 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Thornton 3 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 0

Shipley 11 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 3

Odiakosa 23 0-4 0-1 6 0 4 0

Team 2

Totals 250 25-70 9-16 38 13 21 67

Northern Iowa 29 26 7 7 - 69

Illinois State 28 27 7 5 - 67

3-point goals - UNI 8-23 (Koch 2-4, Brown 2-4, Farokhmanesh 1-4, Ahelegbe 1-4, Moran 1-4, Dunham 1-2, O'Rear 0-1); ISU 8-24 (Oguchi 2-6, Phillips 2-5, Holloway 2-5, Eldridge 1-5, Shipley 1-3). Turnovers - UNI 17 (Moran 4); ISU 9 (Oguchi 3). Steals - UNI 4 (Farokhmanesh 2); ISU 6 (Eldridge 2). Blocks - UNI 5 (Eglseder 3); ISU 2 (Eldridge, Holloway).

Officials - Pollard, Wymer, Daily. Att. - 8,232.