University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
DePaul
Panthers Fall to DePaul, 60-52
11/20/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2009
ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands – The University of Northern Iowa dropped a 60-52 contest to DePaul in the first game of the 2009 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam tournament. Senior Ali Farokhmanesh led the Panthers with 12 points.
“DePaul did a great job defensively in the second half,” UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. “They made some changes that made it hard for us to score. We didn't approach the second half any differently; we just couldn't get shots to connect.”
De Paul jumped to an early 9-3 lead before Farokhmanesh drained back-to-back threes followed by career-first treys from Marc Sonnen and Anthony James, giving the Panthers a 21-13 lead with 8:17 left in the first half.
“We started slow in the first half; our offense almost seemed stagnant,” Farokhmanesh said. “Then we got the inside game to open up and because of that, we could get more open looks on the perimeter as well.”
UNI would build their lead to 10 in the first half after Kerwin Dunham drained a three with 4:02 left in the half.
DePaul then went on a 7-2 run to end the half, including a deep three from Mike Stovall to pull the Blue Demons within 32-27 with just over thirty seconds left before the break.
In the second half, DePaul cut the Panther lead to 34-32 off back-to-back treys by Jeremiah Kelly. Farokhmanesh added a three of his own to put UNI up 37-32 with 15:33 remaining. UNI would build their lead back to six with 10:20 left in the half when Dunham drained his second three of the contest.
However, DePaul continued to chip away at the Panther lead in the second half and eventually jumped into the lead when Mac Koshwall layed in a basket with just over four minutes to go in the contest. The Blue Demons then went on a 20-6 run to close out the half and secure the 60-52 win.
“The difference in the second half was we just couldn't finish,” Farokhmanesh said. “We weren't hitting the open shots like we were in the first half.”
UNI shot 63 percent from behind the arc in the first half, but struggled in the second half, shooting just 16.7 percent. Farokhmanesh led the Panthers with 12 points off 4-for-9 shooting from three-point land. DePaul's Jeremiah Kelly led all scorers with 18 points while Koshwal pulled down 19 rebounds.
UNI (1-1) will now play the loser of the East Carolina/Tennessee game Saturday Nov. 21 at 2:30 p.m. CST.
