1 week Ago By JIM NELSON Courier Sports Editor
CEDAR FALLS – Northern Iowa held Omaha scoreless for more than eight minutes between the first and second halves to surge past the Mavericks, 78-58, Friday in a non-conference basketball game at the McLeod Center. Omaha (4-8) did not score from the 4 minute and 55 second mark of the first half until the 16:23 of the second half as the Panthers (6-4) went on a 25-0 run to take control of the game. “Really we had to snap into it,” point guard Trey Campbell said.
“We didn’t want this game to keep dragging on. We kind of huddled up and decided that we needed to step it up and that is what happened. The outcome was as good as we thought it was going to be.
” It was the third straight win, and third straight game UNI held its opponents to under one point per possession. “We have gotten better defensively,” UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. “We are guarding the ball better.
That is something we talked about a lot with the guys over the last 10 days, two weeks. If we guard the ball, do a better job of shrinking the floor and really helping and being spots, having great awareness..
. “Take up some of the driving lanes with some of our help. Still able to get three-point shooters and then blocking out.
Those three things have gotten better, and you have to have that if you are going to have a good defense.” Jacob Hutson led the Panthers with 21 points, while Trey Campbell finished a single point shy of a career high as he had 20 points, eight boards, five assists and two steals with just one turnover. Tytan Anderson, Leon Bond III and Ben Schwieger all scored in double figures as well with 12, 11 and 10 respectively.
Schwieger led UNI with nine boards. In addition to another strong defensive effort, UNI consistently got to the rim as it took 35 free throws and made 28 of them and scored 32 points in the paint. “Putting more pressure on the rim is something we have talked about,” Jacobson said.
“Again over the last 10 days, probably coming out of Orlando, putting more pressure on the rim and finding ways to do that.” After slogging through much of the first half, UNI found traction in the final 4 minutes and 31 seconds. Omaha opened the game with a pair of 3-pointers and led for much of the first 10 minutes.
The Panthers took their first lead at 15-13 on a Will Hornseth drive and score. But the Mavericks used an 8-0 run to surge to a 23-18 lead on a Maquel Sutton inside hoop with 4:54 left in the half. Omaha, however, did not score again in the half.
After Hutson made 1 of 2 free throws, Anderson hit a triple, and then Campbell hit back-to-back treys to force a Maverick time out as UNI had stormed to a 30-23 lead. Campbell fed Anderson just before the first half buzzer for an easy layup to close out the huge run as UNI led 34-23 at the break. “We got cranked up defensively that last two or three minutes,” Jacobson said.
“One or two of the guys said let’s go here and let’s have a great finish to the half. So, they were talking about it a little bit.” “Just defensive energy,” Schwieger said.
“You could tell we came out flat at the beginning, but we picked up our spirits, really got into them and forced them into some tough positions. When you make it hard for them it disrupts their offense and makes it better for us.” The Panthers built their lead to 21 in the second half 50-29, before Omaha got hot from the 3-point arc and trimmed UNI's lead from 50-31 to 52-40 with 10:12 left to force the Panthers to take a timeout.
UNIs led stayed around 11-13 points until a Bond III dunk started a 13-2 run late as the Panthers led by as much as 23, following a Schweiger layup with 1:20 left, 78-55. UNI will return to action Monday at home in a 7 p.m.
tip at the McLeod Center. “We just got to keep coming and doing what we do and stacking these wins,” Campbell said. : With injuries to guards RJ Taylor and Cael Schmitt, true freshman Redek Born made his debut in the Panther uniform in the first half.
Born is the younger brother of former UNI guard Bowen Born. He was expected to redshirt this winter. He played 3 minutes and 28 seconds.
“I spent two and a half days coming out of the UIC game just thinking about how do we best do this,” Jacobson said. “We are down our two point guards right now. Cael is hopefully back for our game with Southern Illinois, but we have a got guy who has practiced well, is tough and competitive, we needed another guard, needed another guy that could handle and pass the ball.
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