EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team posted its first road win of the season on Wednesday behind a convincing 80-53 win over the Evansville Purple Aces in the Ford Center.
UNI (8-7 overall, 2-1 MVC) drained 14 3-pointers and handed out 20 assists against only seven turnovers against the Aces. UNI’s Matt Bohannon scored a game-high 17 points as he knocked in five 3-pointers. Seth Tuttle added 14 points and seven rebounds, while Wes Washpun tallied 12 points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor.
Evansville (7-9, 0-3 MVC) tied the game at 4-4 with 17:37 left in the first half. But the Panthers used an 11-0 run and never looked back. The Panthers opened up a 22-point lead in the first half and then pushed the largest margin to 34 points in the second half.
“We were sharp tonight,” UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. “It was the best defensive half we have played this season in the first half. We were terrific in that first half with our defense, rebounding and hustle plays. The guys earned it tonight. We defended like crazy and we went out and got it.”
UNI also held the nation’s seventh-leading scorer D.J. Ballantine (22.7 ppg) to only eight points and 3-of-11 shooting from the floor.
“We wanted to run a second defender at him and keep rotating guys,” Jacobson said.
UNI will return to the McLeod Center on Saturday to take on the Drake Bulldogs at 7 p.m. General admission tickets are available for $5 for the Panthers-Bulldogs matchup. To order tickets for Saturday’s game call the UNI ticket office at 319-273-4849 or visit www.unipanthers.com.
