January 20, 2007 SYCAMORES LEAD IN SECOND HALF, FALL VICTIM TO LATE UNI RUNS CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Indiana State was tantalizingly close to its second Missouri Valley Conference road victory of the season at the brand new McLeod Center, but a pair of late Northern Iowa spurts allowed the Panthers to win on its home court, 74-64. ISU falls to 11-7, 4-4 MVC while UNI is 15-4, 6-2 MVC. Standing down 31-28 at the half, the Sycamores owned the first nine minutes of the second half to seemingly take control of the key conference battle with the Panthers. ISU trailed 35-32 with 17:30 left in the game when UNI’s Travis Brown connected on a pair of free throws. Indiana State spurted to the tune of an 11-3 run over the next six minutes of the game to take its largest lead, 43-38 with 10:44 left. The run started with a pair of Gabe Moore free throws to make the score, 35-34. Trent Wurtz surged ISU ahead with a jumper in the paint for a 36-35 Sycamore lead and then following a turnover, added two more points on free throws for the 38-35 advantage. Northern Iowa’s Grant Stout drilled a 3-pointer to knot the score at 38-38 for the Panthers’ only points during the six minutes of Sycamore sizzle. Sophomore Jay Tunnell countered for the Trees with a triple of his own to replenish the ISU advantage of three at 41-38 with 11:51 showing on the clock. Tunnell’s next jumper just over a minute later netted ISU its largest lead of the game at 43-38. UNI reclaimed the lead with back-to-back 3-pointers by Brown for the 44-43 lead, but ISU had more charge left in its tank. Wurtz completed an old-fashioned 3-point play with a jumper and a free throw for the 46-44 lead. Northern Iowa’s Eric Coleman tied the game for the fourth time with a pair of free throws, making it 46-46 with 7:53 left. Following misses by Wurtz and Moore, the Panthers’ Brooks McGowen drilled a jumper with 6:36 remaining to give UNI’s its final lead of the game. Tunnell tried to push ISU ahead, but his 3-pointer missed and the Sycamores went on a four possession dry spell with allowed UNI to stretch its lead to 53-46. It was all part of a 7-0 run that allowed the Panthers to control the closing moments of the game. After ISU was able to cut the Panther advantage to five, 53-48, with four and a half minutes left, UNI delivered a final 10-4 run to end ISU’s hope of claiming its second MVC road victory of the year. Wurtz led the Sycamores with 21 points in the game as he hit 7-of-16 shots from the field and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. Wurtz also paced ISU with seven rebounds. ISU was a victim to the Panthers’ hot shooting as UNI hit 51.2% of its shots while the Sycamores stroked just 39.6% of its attempts. Stout paced the Panthers with 23 points in leading UNI to its 16th victory of the season. At the half, UNI led 31-28, although the game was tied at 28 with 53 seconds left on a 3-pointer by freshman Marico Stinson. Stinson paced ISU with eight points coming off the bench at the break. In the first stanza, Stinson was a perfect 3-of-3 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers. ISU returns to action at Hulman Center on Wednesday, January 24 when the Sycamores host Evansville for its lone MVC home contest over its current five-game stretch, four of which are on the road. Tip-off versus the Purple Aces is slated for 7:05 p.m. (ET).
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