CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball overcame a six-point halftime deficit and scored a 64-55 win over the Bradley Braves on Wednesday in the McLeod Center.
UNI (18-12 overall, 8-9 MVC) sent senior guard Johnny Moran out a winner in his final home regular season appearance. Moran scored his 1,000th career point in the first half and finished with 12 points in the victory over the Braves.
Bradley (7-23 overall, 2-15 MVC) got a game-high 22 points from Walt Lemon Jr., as he drained 5-of-7 3-point shots in the contest.
Bradley led by as many as eight points in the first half and took a 30-24 lead into the locker room at intermission. But UNI used a 19-4 run that spanned the final 1:06 of the first half and the initial 8:32 of the second half to turn it into a 41-34 lead for the home squad.
UNI started the second half on a 12-0 run, that included eight points from Marc Sonnen. Sonnen finished with 13 points for the Panthers.
Bradley pulled to within 41-39 with 9:26 left in the game on a conventional three-point play from Lemon Jr. But UNI again responded with an 11-1 run to push the margin to 52-40 following a three-point play from freshman Seth Tuttle.
The Panthers saw the lead shrink to six points with 1:19 remaining, but the Braves would get no closer and UNI was able to polish off a 64-55 win.
UNI will travel to Carbondale, Ill., to take on the Southern Illinois Salukis on Saturday at 2 p.m.
NOTES: UNI has won 18 games in nine straight seasons … prior to this nine-season streak UNI had won 18 games only six times in school history … Moran is the 34th member of the Panthers’ 1,000-Point Club … Moran played in his 131st career game as a Panther and is two games away from tying Kwadzo Ahelegbe for the school record at 133 games … Anthony James led the Panthers with 19 points off the bench … Tuttle tallied a game-high 11 rebounds … UNI won the rebounding battle, 36-26 … it marked the first time since Jan. 4, 2011 that the Panthers secured 10 or more rebounds than its opponent … the last time it occured came in a 65-53 win over Evansville in the McLeod Center (Jan. 4, 2011) when UNI held a 30-19 rebounding advantage over the Purple Aces … UNI made 16-of-19 at the line, compared to only 6-of-12 at the line for Bradley … Bradley shot 50 percent in the first half but only 8-of-24 (33 percent) in the second half … the Braves made their first five 3-pointers in the game.
