University of Northern Iowa
Loras
UNI's Balanced Effort Leads to 84-48 Win vs. Loras
12/19/2011 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team had seven players in double-figure scoring en route to an 84-48 win over Loras College on Monday in the McLeod Center.
UNI ran its win streak to nine in a row and improved to 10-1 on the season. Loras dropped to 2-9 on the year. UNI's 10-1 start ties it for the third-best start in school history. UNI's nine-game winning streak is tied for the fourth-longest winning streak in school history.
UNI used 11 players in the game and 10 of the 11 played at least 16 minutes. No Panther played more than 23 minutes vs. the Duhawks - for good reason. UNI will play host to the Ohio Bobcats on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the McLeod Center.
The Panthers saw Deon Mitchell (13), Austin Pehl (13), Chip Rank (12), Marc Sonnen (11), Seth Tuttle (10), Anthony James (10) and Matt Morrison (10) all reach double-figure scoring against the Duhawks.
UNI drained 11-of-20 from 3-point land in the win and shot 51.8 percent from the field altogether.
UNI jumped out early with a 17-4 spurt to begin the game and never looked back. UNI led 43-22 at the break.
Loras's Brian Gaughan hit a 3-pointer to begin the second half to trim the lead to 18 points but the Loras got no closer the rest of the way.
NOTES: UNI's 43 first-half points were the most it has scored this year in the first half ... UNI played without junior forward Jake Koch (ill) ... Koch had played in 79 straight games before missing tonight's contest ... sophomore forward Chip Rank started in Koch's place ... it was the first career start for Rank after having come off the bench in his previous 44 games as a Panther ... Austin Pehl scored a career-high 13 points in the game ... his previous career-high came earlier this season against Iowa State with 8 points ... UNI's bench scored 39 points ... UNI is 23-1 in games in which the opponent is held to less than 50 points in head coach Ben Jacobson's tenure as a Panther ... UNI is 17-1 when scoring 80 or more points under coach Jacobson.
