University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
6-0
Northwestern
5-1
UNI Claims Cancun Challenge Crown By Blitzing Northwestern, 61-42
11/26/2014 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CANCUN, Mexico – The University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team captured the 2014 Cancun Challenge championship with a 61-42 win over the Northwestern Wildcats.
UNI moved to 6-0 on the season, while Northwestern dropped its first game of the year to fall to 5-1 overall.
The Panthers were led by senior forward Seth Tuttle's 19-point scoring effort and senior forward Marvin Singleton's nine-rebound performance. Nate Buss joined Tuttle in double figures with 11 points.
Northwestern led 18-14 following a three-pointer from Alex Olah with 10:08 left in the first half. UNI would play lockdown defense the rest of the half forcing the Wildcats to miss their next 12 shots and commit four turnovers. UNI enjoyed a 17-0 run to open up a 31-18 lead. Seth Tuttle capped the run with a bucket in the lane with 2:45 left in the first half. UNI led 31-20 at the intermission.
The Wildcats pulled to within nine points at 33-24 with 17:53 left in the game. Tuttle made a pair of free throws on the other end on UNI's ensuing possession and the Panther lead never shrunk below 10 points the rest of the way.
UNI will be back in action at home on Sun., Nov. 30, against the Richmond Spiders. UNI and Richmond will tip at 2 p.m. in the McLeod Center.
NOTES: It is the third Multi-Team Event (MTE) tournament that UNI has won under head coach Ben Jacobson … the Panthers won the 2010 Las Vegas Classic with victories over Indiana and New Mexico … UNI captured the 2011 South padre Island Invitational with wins over Rice and Providence … UNI has matched its best Division I start in the history of its program with the 6-0 start … UNI began the 1999-2000 season with six victories … UNI started 6-0 in 1922-23 (9-0), 1923-24 (6-0), 1924-25 (8-0), 1961-62 (6-0), 1963-64 (10-0), 1999-2000 (6-0) … UNI senior forward Marvin Singleton has recorded at least six rebounds in each of UNI's six games this season … Singleton tied a season-high with nine rebounds … Paul Jesperson set a career-high with eight rebounds … Tuttle moved into 10th-place on UNI's all-time scoring list as he surpassed Anthony James, who tallied 1,305 points from 2008-2013 … Tuttle has scored 1,311 points in his UNI career … UNI is 31-1 when holding the opposition to under 50 points in the Ben Jacobson coaching era … UNI has won 24 straight games when holding the opposition to less than 50 points.
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