Senior guard Wes Washpun made the decisive jumper from the top of the key as time expired as Northern Iowa recorded a dramatic 56-54 victory over Evansville on Sunday at St. Louis to claim the Missouri Valley Conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Washpun's shot hit the back of the rim and caromed high in the air before falling through the net at the buzzer. He scored 18 points for the Panthers (22-12), who will be part of the NCAA field for the second straight season and eighth time overall.

Sophomore forward Klint Carlson added 17 points for fourth-seeded Northern Iowa, which also eliminated top-seeded Wichita State with Saturday's overtime victory. The Panthers have won six straight games and 12 of their past 13.

Senior guard D.J. Balentine scored 20 points and senior center Egidijus Mockevicius collected 19 rebounds for the second-seeded Purple Aces (25-9). Evansville went 0-3 against the Panthers this season.

The Purple Aces trailed by 17 points early in the second half before rallying the score.

"Congratulations to UNI and Coach (Ben) Jacobson, they do things the right way and I have a ton of respect for them," Evansville coach Marty Simmons said. "As I told our team in the locker room, I could not be more proud of a group of young men as I am ours. The resilience they showed to fight back was great. Our young men earned a lot of respect from a lot of people around the country for how hard they fought."

Northern Iowa has won four of the last eight Missouri Valley postseason tournaments.