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No. 23 Northern Iowa tops South Dakota St.

Dec 28, 2014 - 10:46 PM Cedar Falls, IA (SportsNetwork.com) - Nate Buss had 14 points, Wes Washpun scored 12 and No. 23 Northern Iowa posted a 74-63 win over South Dakota State on Sunday.

Seth Tuttle finished with 11 points and a career-high nine assists for the Panthers (11-1), who extended their home winning streak to nine games.

George Marshall led South Dakota State (9-5) with 16 points, followed by Deondre Parks with 15.

The Jackrabbits suffered their second loss this week to a ranked opponent. They had a seven-game win streak snapped in Tuesday's 80-66 setback at No. 14 Utah.

South Dakota State was down 16 less than five minutes into the second half, but consecutive threes by Reed Tellinghuisen trimmed the deficit to 60-55 with 6:19 remaining.

The Panthers, however, pushed their lead back to double digits as Paul Jesperson hit a 3-pointer to make it 68-57 with 3:56 left to play.

The teams went back-and-forth through the first half of the opening frame before Northern Iowa created some distance with an 13-0 run. The Panthers led 39-30 at the break.

Game Notes

Northern Iowa's bench outscored South Dakota State's reserves 45-10 ... The Panthers shot 57.8 percent from the floor ... The Jackrabbits still lead the all-time series 45-40.