University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Illinois State
Panthers Score Road Win at Illinois State, 70-60
1/5/2013 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NORMAL, Ill. - The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team picked up its first Missouri Valley Conference win of the season Saturday at Redbird Arena with a 70-60 triumph over the Illinois State Redbirds.
UNI's Anthony James eclipsed the 1,000 point mark in his career in the contest and tied for game-high scoring honors with 19 points vs. the Redbirds. UNI's Seth Tuttle also scored 19 points as he made 8-of-9 shots from the field.
UNI (8-7 overall, 1-2 MVC) also got 16 points from senior Marc Sonnen.
Illinois State (9-6 overall, 0-3 MVC) was led by Jackie Carmichael's double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
The Panthers used an 11-0 run to take an 18-9 lead with 8:52 left in the first half after trailing early to the Redbirds. UNI took its biggest lead of the first half at 25-13 with 4:13 left before intermission.
Illinois State pulled to within 31-30 on a bucket from Carmichael with 17:41 in the game. But UNI responded with a 8-2 run to open up a seven-point cushion at 39-32 with 14:26 left.
Later in the half, Sonnen drilled a 3-pointer to give UNI a nine-point lead with 6:33 remaining in the game. Again the Redbirds rallied and trimmed the lead to three points at 55-52 following a jumper from Tyler Brown with 3:32 left in the game.
UNI head coach Ben Jacobson took a timeout with 3:09 left in the game. The Panthers were able to come out of the timeout and got freshman Deon Mitchell to the foul line following his drive to the basket. Mitchell made one of two at the line. On the Panthers' next possession, Tuttle broke free for a dunk and gave the Panthers a six-point lead with 2:15 remaining. The Redbirds would get no closer the rest of the way.
UNI will return home to play four of its next five games in the McLeod Center. UNI will take on Evansville on Wed., Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. in the McLeod Center. UNI will also play at home on Sat., Jan. 12, vs. Bradley at 1 p.m.
NOTES: UNI senior center Austin Pehl made his 11th career start vs. the Redbirds ... it was Pehl's first start since March 21, 2011, vs. SMU in the quarterfinals of CIT ... UNI extended its streak of making at least one 3-pointer to 408 straight games ... James has 1,016 points in his Panther career ... UNI made 17-of-21 free throws, while Illinois State made 4-of-5 at the charity stripe ... Illinois State won the rebounding battle, 30-29 ... UNI forced Illinois State into 16 turnovers and limited the Redbirds to 2-of-18 shooting from the 3-point line.
