Northern Iowa 63 - 52 Bradley
Final
  for this game

No. 23 Northern Iowa tops Bradley

Jan 14, 2015 - 3:16 AM Peoria, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Seth Tuttle finished with 15 points and seven rebounds as No. 23 Northern Iowa held off Bradley for a 63-52 victory on Tuesday.

Natt Buss supplied 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Paul Jesperson was 3-of-4 from 3-point range and finished with nine points for the Panthers (14-2, 3-1 MVC), who have won four straight games.

Auston Barnes netted 14 points, Warren Jones scored 10 and Josh Cunningham had nine points and 11 boards for the Braves (6-11, 1-3), who were coming off a 66-56 loss to Evansville on Saturday.

Deon Mitchell's 3-pointer broke an early tie and ignited a 14-2 run that ended on a pair of Wes Washpun free throws, making it a 19-7 game nearly seven minutes in.

After Ka'Darryl Bell's layup, the Braves went over six minutes without scoring. During the drought, the Panthers scored 12 unanswered points and took a 31-9 lead on four straight free throws from Tuttle.

Northern Iowa led 35-18 at halftime.

Jesperson hit back-to-back triples for a 45-22 Panthers lead less than five minutes into the second half.

Trailing by 22 points, Bradley used an 21-6 burst, which included 10 points from Jones, to get within 54-47 with 3:02 to play.

Buss made two free throws with 1:29 to play, but Barnes went down the court and drained a 3-pointer to make it a two-possession game.

Tuttle and Jeremy Morgan combined for seven made free throws with under a minute to play as the Panthers held on for the win.

Game Notes

Northern Iowa head coach Ben Jacobson won his 91st game against MVC teams to tie former Bradley coach Joe Stowell for ninth in conference history ... The Panthers have won nine of the last 11 matchups between the two programs ... Bradley made just 15-of-51 shots (29.4 percent) ... Northern Iowa improved to 10-1 when holding the opposition to less than 40 percent shooting this season.






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