University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
*Evansville
UNI Holds On For 64-61 Victory Over Evansville
1/3/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team ran its win streak to four in a row on Wednesday night in the McLeod Center with a 64-61 victory over the Evansville Aces.
The Panthers' effort was paced by senior forward Grant Stout (New Sharon, Iowa), who tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three blocked shots. Junior Adam Viet (Ackley, Iowa) added 11 points off the bench, including two trifectas.
UNI led by as many as 15 points in the second half after Stout put in a layup to give the Panthers a 52-37 lead with 10:48 remaining in the game. Evansville then whittled the lead down to three points at 53-50 following a three-pointer by Art Stalbergs at the 6:04 mark.
However, senior guard Brooks McKowen nailed a three-pointer from the right side of the arc as the shot clock wound down to push the lead back to six, 56-50.
The Aces pulled to within two points at 61-59 on a three-pointer by Jason Holsinger with only 38 seconds remaining in the game. But sophomore guard Travis Brown (Richfield, Minn.) drained two clutch free throws with 19 seconds left to effectively ice the game for the Panthers.
Evansville's Shy Ely hit a driving layup with 1.2 seconds left but the Aces' Holsinger committed an intentional foul on junior center Eric Coleman. Coleman went to the line and made one of two. The Panthers then inbounded the pass to Stout and time expired to clinch the UNI victory.
The Aces had four players reach double figure scoring in the contest with Stalbergs (12), Matt Webster (12), Bradley Strickland (11) and Holsinger (11) each breaking the 10-point mark.
McKowen dished out a game-high eight assists, scored five points, grabbed four rebounds and tallied two steals in the UNI win.
UNI improved to 12-2 on the season and is a perfect 3-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Evansville dropped to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in MVC play.
UNI's next game is Sat., Jan. 6, against the Southern Illinois Salukis at noon in the McLeod Center. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
