UNI Falls to Saint Mary's, 57-41

Tuesday, November 15

Moraga, CA

1:00 a.m.

University of Northern Iowa

Saint Mary's

UNI Falls to Saint Mary's, 57-41

11/15/2011 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: UNI Athletics Communications

MORAGA, Calif. - The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team dropped a 57-41 decision to the Saint Mary's College Gaels at the McKeon Pavilion. The game was broadcast live on ESPN as a part of the College Hoops Marathon.

UNI senior guard Johnny Moran led the Panthers with a game-high 13 points. Sophomore Chip Rank added 11 points off the bench. Freshman Seth Tuttle and junior Jake Koch tied for team-high honors with six rebounds.

Saint Mary's jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but the Panthers responded with a 9-0 run of their own to take their only lead of the contest. But Saint Mary's closed the first half on a 19-4 run to take a 26-13 lead at the intermission.

"It felt good to get it tied and not have to play form behind the entire first half," UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. "We didn't do a good enough job offensively. Saint Mary's was good offensively tonight. Part of that was on me for not changing our gears offensively soon enough tonight."

The Gaels extended their lead to 28 points at 51-23 with 6:43 left in the game. UNI fought back and used a 16-2 run to trim the lead to 14 with 1:13 remaining in the contest.

The Gaels were led in scoring by point guard Matthew Dellavedova's 11 points. The Gaels also got double-digit scoring from Stephen Holt (10 points) and Rob Jones (10).

UNI (1-1 overall) will open its home season Sunday at 5 p.m. in the McLeod Center against the University of Northern Colorado Bears.