University of Northern Iowa
Iowa
UNI Bounces Iowa, 80-60
12/6/2011 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team improved its win streak to seven in a row with an 80-60 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the McLeod Center.
UNI (8-1 overall) was led by five players in double figures. Anthony James took team-high scoring honors with 18 points. Jake Koch chipped in 13 points and Seth Tuttle notched 12 points. Marc Sonnen tallied 11 off the bench. Chip Rank also contributed 10 points off the bench.
Iowa (5-4 overall) was led by Roy Marble's 14 points and Eric May's 10 points.
Iowa led 10-0 only 3:10 into the game by making its first five shots. UNI responded with an 8-0 run keyed by a pair of triples from Sonnen and Koch and a layup from Johnny Moran.
UNI took its first lead of the game with 4:18 remaining in the first half when Rank buried his second 3-pointer of the contest from the top of key. Rank's triple gave UNI a 24-23 advantage - an advantage the Panthers would never relinquish.
UNI opened up a seven-point lead in the second half on a tip-in from Tuttle with 18:51 left. But Iowa scored six in a row to trim the lead to one at 34-33.
Iowa cut the lead to one again at 46-45 following a bucket from Josh Oglesby with 10:45 remaining. But the game turned quickly at that point. Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery received the first of his two technicals with 9:47 left in the game. Iowa assistant coach Andrew Francis also drew a technical foul at the same time. Following all the free throws and technicals, UNI held a 55-45 lead.
McCaffery would draw his second technical and be ejected from the game at the 4:47 mark. James buried both free throws again and UNI held a 65-47 lead.
UNI's Matt Morrison ended the scoring on the night with a 3-pointer with 39.6 seconds left for the 80-60 final margin.
UNI will play host to the Milwaukee Panthers on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the McLeod Center.
NOTES: UNI made 29-of-33 free throws, while Iowa made just 3-of-9 at the charity stripe ... for the fourth time in the history of its program, UNI has swept the season series against Iowa and Iowa State ... UNI also won both meetings with Iowa and Iowa State in the 1996-97, 2006-07 and 2009-10 seasons ... UNI's 20-point win over Iowa was the Panthers' largest margin of victory over against the Hawkeyes. The previous best was 17 in the 2009-10 season when UNI posted a 67-50 win over Iowa ... UNI drained 11 3-pointers, to only one 3-pointer made by the Hawkeyes.
