CEDAR FALLS – The UNI men’s basketball team gave the Bradley Braves an early test but could not stop its opponent’s three-point shooting and bench scoring on Sunday as the Panthers dropped their regular season finale on the road by a score of 73-56.
With the loss, Northern Iowa is locked into the three-seed for the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Tournament (commonly known as Arch Madness), which is set to begin at Enterprise Center in St. Louis on Thursday. UNI will have a first-round bye by virtue of being a top-four seed.
UNI and Bradley swapped control of the lead seven times in the first half as the Panthers focused their attention in the paint with a 55.6% shooting clip. Outrebounding the Braves 15-12 in the first 20 minutes of action, Northern Iowa built a handful of four-point leads, with Kyle Pock and Max Weisbrod each knocking down a three-point shot, while Tytan Anderson, Jacob Hutson and Ben Schwieger paced the Panthers inside. Bradley would take the lead back with a 15-6 run to close the first half as the Braves’ three-point shooting picked up. Schwieger finished the first period with nine points with Anderson scoring seven points as the Panthers went to the locker room trailing 45-36.
Northern Iowa’s offense would struggle in the second half on just 20.7% shooting as the Braves built on their nine-point halftime lead, stretching the margin to as many as 21 points. Weisbrod and Cael Schmitt would score a pair of three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give the Panthers some second half momentum with Kyle Pock adding a triple late, but Bradley’s strong bench performance would be too much for the Panthers in the 17-point loss.
Weisbrod finished the game tying for the team scoring high with 11 points on three made triples, while Schwieger also totalled 11 points with four rebounds. Anderson tallied nine points, three assists and four boards in the loss, as Will Hornseth posted eight points and three rebounds. Pock and Hutson each notched six points.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
UNI falls to 37-40 in the all-time series against the Braves after Sunday’s loss. The Panthers had previously won the last two matchups.
Tytan Anderson broke a tie with current Panther assistant coach and former MVC Player of the Year Seth Tuttle (2011-15) for the fifth-most games played in team history on Sunday with his 137th appearance for UNI.
Will Hornseth continues to maintain a single-season shooting percentage of .680 on the season (66-of-97), currently on pace to set a new single-season program record.
Leon Bond III made his first game appearance in Sunday’s game since late January following an injury at Indiana State. Bond finished the game with two points, one rebounds and one steal in just under seven and a half minutes of play.
UP NEXT
The Panthers will head to St. Louis for the 2025 MVC Tournament as the three-seed and play on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. CT against the winner of a first-round game that is to be determined. Live coverage of UNI’s quarterfinal matchup can be found on the MVC TV Network, as well as the Panther Sports Radio Network.
