University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Morehead State
UNI Heats Up With 69-53 Win Over Morehead State
12/11/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team shot a season-best 53.7 percent from the field and drained 10-of-20 shots from the 3-point arc in scoring a 69-53 victory over Morehead State on Saturday in the McLeod Center.
UNI pushed its home-court winning streak to 19 in a row with the victory and improved to 5-3 on the season. Morehead State dropped to 6-4 overall on the year.
The Panthers were paced by four players in double figures, which was led by sophomore guard Anthony James's 18 points. James drained his first seven shots of the game, including four 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Marc Sonnen contributed 15 points on the bench as he made 5-of-6 shots from the field. Junior guard Johnny Moran tossed in 12 points and sophomore forward Jake Koch scored 11 to go along with a team-high eight rebounds.
Morehead State was led by Kenneth Faried's game-high 23 points and nine rebounds. Faried made his first nine shots of the game before missing a tip-in late in the second half.
The Panthers led from start to finish but had to fight off the Eagles' strong second-half surge to tally the win.
UNI turned an 11-9 lead into a 21-9 advantage with a 10-0 run midway through the first half. Koch capped the run with a conventional 3-point play. UNI eventually extended its lead to 21 points in the first half following a Sonnen bucket with 21 seconds remaining until halftime.
Morehead State scored right before the halftime buzzer on a layup from Demonte Harper. MSU continued that momentum into the second half by churning out a 16-2 run that cut the Panthers' lead to 45-38 with 14:31 left in the game.
But a 13-0 UNI run that saw a pair of 3-pointers from Sonnen and another one from James gave UNI a 60-40 with 8:28 left in the contest. Moran then put the game away with a fall-away 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down with 4:03 on the game clock.
UNI will remain at home with a pair games in the Las Vegas Classic against South Carolina State (Friday, 7 p.m.) and and SIU-Edwardsville (Sunday, 1 p.m.).
NOTES: UNI shot 63.6 percent in the first half and scored 43 points ... UNI had scored 39 points in 40 minutes Tuesday at Iowa ... UNI committed only nine turnovers in the game and forced 15 by Morehead State ... UNI won the rebounding battle, 21-19 ... the Panthers drained 15-of-17 at the free throw, including a perfect 7-of-7 by Jake Koch ... the last time UNI shot better than 53.7 percent in a game came on Nov. 23, 2009, in an 81-69 win over Boston College.
