Dec. 5, 2006
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Eric Coleman (Maplewood, Minn.) scored a season-high 21 points and tied a career-high with 15 rebounds as the University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team posted a 57-55 win over Iowa Tuesday night.
The win was UNI's first-ever in Iowa City in 21 tries, and it also snapped Iowa's 21-game home winning streak at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. That was the third-longest active home winning streak in the country.
The Panthers came from way back to post the win, trailing by as many as 13 points in second half, including by 11 with 5:17 left. Down 51-40 at that point, a fast break layup by Grant Stout (New Sharon, Iowa) started a 13-0 run over the next three and a half minutes. After a Brooks McKowen (Fairbank, Iowa) hoop and a pair of Jared Josten (Webster City, Iowa) free throws, sophomore Travis Brown (Richfield, Minn.) hit a three pointer from the left corner with 3:47 left to pull UNI within two, 51-49.
McKowen tied the game with two foul shots a minute later, and Coleman gave UNI its first lead since 5-4 with 1:42 left with two free throws of his own. Iowa's Adam Haluska tied the score at 53-all on the next trip down, but Coleman - who made 9-of-11 free throws on the night - responded with two more charity tosses to put the Panthers in front, 55-53 with just over a minute remaining.
The Hawkeyes' Tyler Smith hit a turnaround in the lane to pull the Hawks even again with 52 seconds left. After a UNI timeout, the Panthers got the ball to Coleman on the right block, and facing a double-team, he found a wide open Brown under the basket, who hit the layup with 32 seconds left, giving UNI a 57-55 lead. After Iowa missed and was forced to foul, McKowen missed both free throws with 14 seconds left, but the Hawks' Tony Freeman saw his three-pointer at the buzzer hit the front of the rim and bounce off, giving the Panthers the win.
Stout had 12 points and seven rebounds, while McKowen had another solid all-around game with seven points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Iowa was led by Smith's 20 points, but leading scorer Haluska was held to just nine points on 3-of-10 shooting.
With its fifth straight win, UNI improves to 7-1 on the season, while Iowa falls to 4-5. The Panthers next game is this Saturday (Dec. 9) in the McLeod Center, when they host UMKC. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m.
