Men’s basketball drops contest at UNI
Aces back home on Saturday to face Belmont
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Four Northern Iowa players reached double figures on Tuesday as the Panthers finished with a 73-56 victory over the University of Evansville men’s basketball team inside the McLeod Center.
UE was led by Tayshawn Comer’s 18 points. He added 7 boards and 4 steals. Cam Haffner finished with 13 points while leading the Purple Aces with 8 caroms. Tytan Anderson tallied 15 points for UNI while Ben Schweiger chipped in a double-double, wrapping the day up with 10 points and 12 boards.
“We missed a lot of easy shots around the rim and picked up several undisciplined fouls,” UE head coach David Ragland said. “It will be good for us to get back home, be on a normal schedule, and be able to work on things in practice.”
Josh Hughes got the Aces on the board with an early 2-0 lead as both offenses struggled in the early moments. Following a 1-for-6 start from the field, UNI held a 5-3 lead six minutes in. Evansville started 1-for-7 with three turnovers before Tayshawn Comer converted a 3-point play to return the lead to UE at 7-5.
Comer quickly struck again on the next Aces possession. Following a 3-point make by UNI, Comer hit from outside to put Evansville back in front at 10-8 inside of the 13-minute mark. Over the next 10 minutes, Northern Iowa made its move, outscoring UE by a 19-2 margin to go up 27-12. The offense for UE struggled over that time frame, going 1-for-13 from the field with three turnovers.
Connor Turnbull ended the stretch with a basket as the Aces cut into the deficit over the final minutes, trailing by 14 at the half – 32-18. Evansville shot 22.2% in the half while turning it over eight times.
It was Turnbull opening the second-half scoring, turning the feed from Tanner Cuff into a dunk, but the Panthers quickly got back on track, opening up their largest lead of 19 points. A free throw by UNI established a 43-24 advantage inside of 15 minutes remaining. Evansville did not give up as Cam Haffner’s triple two minutes later got his squad within 14 points at 45-31.
With 7:01 remaining, a field goal from Comer got the Aces even closer at 53-40. The tides quickly turned back in UNI’s favor as they responded with a 9-1 stretch to take their largest lead of 21 points. Their lead grew to 23 before Evansville closed to make it a final of 73-56. UNI shot 40.7% while holding the Aces to 36.4%. After scoring 18 in the first half, UE erupted for 38 points in the second half while shooting 50% in the final 20 minutes.
Following the road trip, UE is back home for its next two games, beginning on Saturday with a 1 p.m. game against Belmont inside the Ford Center.
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