From UNI Athletics
CEDAR FALLS, IA – The Panthers knock down their conference opponent the Missouri State Bears with a 10 point win. With the 85-75 win, UNI is now 65-7 when scoring 80 or more points under head coach Ben Jacobsen and are now 1-1 in MVC play.
The Panthers started the first half with a 16-0 lead leaving the Bears and previous lead scorer, Gaige Prim, scoreless through the first seven minutes of the game.
With the Panthers holding the lead for the entirety of the first half, 10 Panthers were able to find the hoop and record points. Amongst the 10 was Goanar Mar who scored his 500th career point down in the paint within the first six minutes of the game.
With crisp passes and great connections, the Panthers forced a 26-point lead over the Bears at the seven-minute mark in the first half and finished the half with a 13-point lead.
Scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half, Nate Heise, started the Panthers off with real momentum after a back-to-back jumper and a steal that led to a dunk. The Bears came back and stole the momentum, coming within five points of the Panthers, but it only took four minutes for the Panthers to extend the lead back to 15 points.
Austin Phyfe scored seven points in the last matchup (Dec. 27, 2020) but finished 21 points for the Panthers, just one point shy of his career-high against Northern Colorado on Nov. 11, 2019.
UNI’s great defense allowed them to out rebound Missouri State with 40 total rebounds through the night. Along with rebounds, UNI scored 44 of the team’s 85 points in the paint. The Panthers used turnovers to their advantage and scored 10 points off of the Bears’ faults.
The Missouri State Bears struggled to put points up early in the game. Three players, Ja’Monta Black, Isiaih Mosley, and Prim, scored in double figures and accounted for 76% of the Bears’ 75 points.
A complete role reversal as seen in the previous game between the two teams, Missouri State shot 51.6% while the Panthers could only knock down 32.8%, while most recently, the Panthers went 52.5% from the field and Missouri State was just shy of 40%.
The Panthers will start the New Year off, 1-1 in conference play and in Evansville, Ind. playing against the Purple Aces for the second round of conference games this season. Tipoff will be in the Ford Center on both Jan. 2 and 3rd at 3:00 p.m.–air time on News/Talk 1540 KXEL each day is at 2:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES:
– UNI is now 65-7 when scoring 80 or more points under head coach Ben Jacobsen.
– 10 Panthers put points on the board in the first half alone.
– Goanar Mar scored his 500th point just six minutes into the game.
– Austin Phyfe ended the night leading the team with 21 points and six rebounds.
