St. Louis, MO -- Tyler Chaney and Deke Thompson scored 16 points each to lead the Southwest Missouri State Bears to a 70-62 win over the Northern Iowa Panthers in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament from the Savvis Center.

Nathan Bilyeu added a double-double for the Bears (17-11) with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Tamarr Maclin grabbed another 10 boards in the victory.

Northern Iowa (21-10) was paced by Grant Stout, who tallied 19 points and seven rebounds. Eric Coleman registered 14 points and eight boards, while Erik Crawford chipped in 12 points for the Panthers.

The teams traded leads in a closely-contested first half, but it was Northern Iowa which took a 29-26 upper hand into the break.

The second stanza offered more of the same -- a see-saw battle that had the Panthers clinging to a 44-43 edge midway through the frame. Southwest Missouri State used a 9-3 spurt to grab a 52-47 lead, then stretched its advantage to double digits before clinching the eight-point decision.

With the victory, the Bears advanced to Sunday's semifinal matchup with the top-seeded Southern Illinois Salukis.