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.
