National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Northern Iowa 70, Wichita St. 54
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 31, 2015
Where: McLeod Center, Cedar Falls, Iowa
Officials: # Paul Janssen, # Hal Lusk, # Bert Smith
Attendance: 7050

No. 18 Northern Iowa 70, No. 12 Wichita State 54: Seth Tuttle scored a career-high 29 points as the host Panthers snapped the Shockers’ 27-game Missouri Valley Conference winning streak.

Tuttle hit 9-of-13 shots from the field and Northern Iowa (20-2, 9-1) shot 60 percent, moving past Wichita State (19-3, 9-1) for first place in the conference. Wes Washpun came off the bench to score 16 points and the Panthers - sixth in the nation in scoring defense - limited the Shockers to 5-of-24 shooting from 3-point range to win their ninth in a row.

The Panthers outscored Wichita State 19-3 during a nine-minute stretch late in the first half. Fred VanVleet scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half and Ron Baker finished with 12 for the Shockers, who shot a season-worst 35.4 percent as their nine-game winning streak came to an end.

Wichita State led 5-0 before Tuttle scored seven points in a row, and the Panthers held the Shockers scoreless for 4 ½ minutes to go ahead 10-5. Darius Carter’s basket put Wichita State ahead 18-16 midway through the first half, but the Shockers missed nine of their next 10 shots as Northern Iowa scored 19 of the next 22 points.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Nate Buss and Matt Bohannon early in the spurt pushed the Panthers’ advantage to six, and three-point plays from Washpun and Tuttle finished the run and gave Northern Iowa a 35-21 lead. The Panthers led 37-24 at the break and never were threatened in the second half, with Tuttle scoring the Panthers’ first eight points after intermission and Marvin Singleton’s basket with 14 minutes left extending the advantage to 49-30.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Panthers extended their home winning streak to 14 games and ended Wichita State’s conference road run at 13. … Baker and VanVleet, Wichita State’s two leading scorers, combined to shoot 7-for-22. … Northern Iowa beat the Shockers for just the second time in their last eight meetings. The teams meet again Feb. 28 at Wichita State.
Top Game Performances
 
Wichita St.   Northern Iowa
Fred VanVleet 18 Scoring Seth Tuttle 29
Tekele Cotton 3 Assists Wes Washpun 3
Tekele Cotton 8 Rebounds Seth Tuttle 7
Fred VanVleet 10 Free Throws Made Seth Tuttle 10
Ron Baker 3 Steals Wes Washpun 2
Shaquille Morris 2 Blocks Seth Tuttle 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Wichita St. 54 35.4 5-24 15-17 6 26 4 5 11
Northern Iowa 70 60.0 5-7 17-23 6 24 1 6 10