UNI blows out Drake for first Valley win, 79-60

CEDAR FALLS - Early aggressive defense and a productive Bennett Koch were more than enough to get Northern Iowa men's basketball its first Missouri Valley Conference win Sunday, 79-60, against Drake.

Koch scored six of the first eight points for UNI (6-11, 1-5) and finished the afternoon with 21 points on a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor. He was joined in double figures by seniors Jeremy Morgan (21) - who returned after missing Wednesday's game against Bradley with an ankle injury - and Jordan Ashton (17). An 18-0 run by the Panthers buried the Bulldogs 22-7 with 11:22 left in the first half. UNI's 63 percent shooting in the first half had coach Ben Jacobson feeling good about his team.

'No secret, we haven't played that good. We have practiced really well,” Jacobson said. 'If you're at one of our practices it doesn't look like a team that isn't winning games. What you saw tonight is the same thing you'd see from these guys at practice, and they deserve a ton of credit for that.”

Junior forward Bennett Koch felt like the Panthers were energized by their defense early in the game.

'I think we finally found our confidence,” Koch said. 'The last couple games we came out kind of shy; not as aggressive as I know we should come out.

'We just wanted to come out more intense than we had been. And I think that helped us get our energy up.”

Jacobson explained that Drake's recent play - the Bulldogs entered the game 4-5 under interim coach Jeff Rutter after starting the season 1-8 - and the confidence they were showing as a group made him want to attack early.

'We felt like if we could knock them back, get them on their heels, maybe get a turnover,” Jacobson said. 'Felt like the right thing to do to keep going to it. That allowed us to get a little momentum.”

That early momentum equaled 45 first-half points - the Panthers best since a 49-point first half in an 86-58 win over South Dakota State on Dec. 7.

'I think we're getting better at some things offensively, and today we scrambled around with our defense. We've still got a lot of things to get better at with our man-to-man defense, but sometimes more so than picking up momentum is to be able to (remind ourselves) that we're good players, that we do have a good basketball team,” Jacobson said.

Bulldogs junior point guard Reed Timmer did what he could, scoring 12 of his 16 total points in the second half, but Drake (5-13, 3-3) came no closer than 15.