UNI takes down Bradley in men’s basketball

CEDAR FALLS — A dominant first half proved to be the difference as Northern Iowa got past Bradley at McLeod Center on Sunday, 74-63, in a Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball game.

Scoring runs of 13-0 and 12-2 in the game’s first 20 minutes paved the way for UNI’s upset win over the Braves.

Led by Bowen Born, Nate Heise and Landon Wolf’s 26 combined first-half points, 10 Panthers saw the floor in the first 20 minutes and all 10 scored.

“We’ve talked a lot since the (Illinois-Chicago loss) about playing harder and playing faster,” UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. “Then, also knowing that we’ve got good players on the bench that have had their moments — Landon (Wolf), Mike (Duax), Kyle (Pock), RJ (Taylor) (and) Cole (Henry). Trying to find some consistency with those guys, so that they can go out there and just be a little more confident in what they’re doing.”

UNI’s two scoring runs were highlighted by a combined five made 3s and a Heise baseline dunk that punctuated the 12-2 run, making for a 44-26 advantage at halftime.

“Just having a lot of fresh, available bodies,” Heise said when asked about the difference in a dominant first half. “It kind of felt like we had a little more depth than they did and we were able to play really hard for a short period, come out and come back in.”

The third-place Braves (18-9, 10-6) quickly rediscovered themselves in the second half, putting together a 16-3 run to get within seven with 12 minutes remaining.

Senior forward Malevy Leons led Bradley’s offensive resurgence during its run, scoring 11 of his 16 points in just over six minutes. Fellow senior Duke Deen followed up Leons’ outburst with six of his 11 points in the following 3:06 and Darius Hannah’s layup with 9:20 remaining turned what was an 18-point UNI lead into just a four point advantage.

“It just happens fast these days with the amount of skill on the floor and the number of guys that can make shots — it happens fast in games in every league,” Jacobson said of losing their big lead.

After Leons and Deen got together to lead a Bradley comeback, the Panthers (15-12, 9-7) mustered a 12-4 run to re-extend their lead back into double digits and did so by converting at the free-throw line.

Jacob Hutson and Tytan Anderson — who entered Sunday’s game shooting 58 percent and 67 percent, respectively, at the charity stripe — made all 10 of their attempts over the final eight-plus minutes.

“At that point, when it got down to four (points), then the guys pushed it back with some important plays like the free throws and I felt like there were a couple of important defensive stops that were mixed in there, as well,” Jacobson said. “You love to see (our) confidence and aggressiveness in those situations after it’s gotten down to four, because as a player, you feel that.”

Bradley guard Connor Hickman led all scorers with a game-high 22 points and was joined in double figures by Leons, Deen and Hannah.

Hutson scored a team-high 14 for the Panthers and was joined in double figures by Born, Heise and Tytan Anderson, who scored 12, 11 and 10 respectively.

With just four games remaining the Panthers are now tied with Southern Illinois and Belmont for fourth-place in the Missouri Valley Conference — a coveted spot that comes with the fourth, and final, bye at the conference tournament in two weeks.

“The first half today was the best we’ve played all year — fair to say,” Jacobson said. “But, we’ve had other moments where we’ve played great basketball and looked like we can beat about anybody we’re on the floor with. Just really happy for the guys and feel like it’s something that they can stack up here with what happened at (Valparaiso) and what happened (the first) 25 minutes (today, and) what happened the last five minutes. Those are good moments for the guys.”

UNI returns to action Wednesday at Illinois State (13-14, 7-9). Tip-off at CEFCU Arena is at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).