University of Northern Iowa
Iowa
Iowa Slows Down UNI, 51-39
12/7/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team fell 51-39 to in-state rival Iowa Tuesday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
"Iowa played a bit better in a couple of key areas and deserved to win tonight because of it," UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. "They rebounded the ball well. They got to the free throw line. Those couple of things proved to be the difference in the game."
Kwadzo Ahelegbe and Jake Koch led the Panthers with 11 points apiece. Koch also finished with nine rebounds. Iowa's Melsahn Basabe led all scorers with 14 points.
Iowa built an early lead on the Panthers, going up by as many as 10 at 16-6. The Panthers went on an 11-0 run to take a 17-16 lead off an Ahelegbe jump shot. Each team traded buckets to finish out the half with O'Rear driving the lane to put the Panthers up 23-22 at intermission. UNI had been 4-0 in games it led at the half.
Iowa came out of the break to score two quick baskets to take a 26-23 lead. Anthony James cut the deficit to one at 26-25 off a lay up, but Iowa scored eight straight points to go up nine at 34-25 with 13:47 remaining. After a Bryce Cartwright three put Iowa up nine at 37-28, Koch scored two treys to cut the Iowa lead to three at 37-34.
Eric May scored on consecutive trips and Jarryd Cole drained a jump shot to extend the Iowa lead back to nine at 43-34. Koch drained two free throws to close the gap to seven at 43-36 with 8:24 remaining. Both teams then went scoreless for over five minutes before Matt Gatens broke the drought, draining a three from the right wing to give Iowa a 10-point lead at 46-36 with 2:51 remaining in the game.
Johnny Moran answered by canning a three from the top of the key to pull UNI within seven again at 46-39 with just over two minutes remaining. Basabe scored on the other end to give Iowa a nine-point advantage at 48-39. Iowa drained three free throws in the closing minutes to hang on for the 51-39 win.
The last time the Panthers failed to score 40 points was during the 1999-2000 season, suffering a 80-39 setback to Bradley.
UNI (4-3) returns to the McLeod Center to host Morehead State Saturday, Dec. 11. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
