Tuttle guides UNI in crunch time

CEDAR FALLS - Wednesday night's Missouri Valley Conference game between No. 19 Northern Iowa and Indiana State was a textbook, bruising, back-and-forth MVC game.

It hasn't been that way for a while for the Panthers (17-2, 6-1 MVC), who have cruised in each of their five wins heading into the matchup with the Sycamores (9-10, 5-2). Indiana State gave UNI a dose of its own medicine with creative and stifling defense - in the second half particularly.

Despite that, the Panthers rode the free throw line and their leader Seth Tuttle to a sixth straight win, 66-60.

'(Indiana State) plays really, really, really good defense. They've got a bunch of guards that can move their feet, and they've got two big guys that can handle down low. We knew it was going to be a struggle,” Tuttle said. 'It was one of those ones you have to grind out. We've been here long enough to know there's going to be games in the Valley you're going to have to do that with. Tonight was one of them.”

Tuttle didn't have a great night shooting - he finished 3 of 8 from the field - but was 10 of 12 from the free throw line to end with 16 points and nine rebounds. None of the three made baskets were bigger than an and-1 basket with 1:04 left as the shot clock was expiring.

That play was just the sixth field goal of the second half (UNI was 6 of 19 in the second half) and took the lead from a perilous 54-51 advantage to 57-51 and essentially took away any real chance Indiana State had to win, as the Sycamores had to go into foul mode.

Coach Ben Jacobson said it was pretty easy to decide who to draw the play for when he took a timeout to set up that scenario. There's zero doubt who the go-to player is for the Panthers.

'I don't think there's any question for our guys that we want him to touch the basketball in that situation,” Jacobson said. 'Whether we've got a lineup with Marv (Singleton) in the game where they're going to crowd him a little bit or we've got Nate in the game where he's going to have a little more space, either way we want him to touch it.

'No question, we want him touching that ball in that situation.”

The play was even more impressive considering the job Indiana State had done guarding Tuttle throughout the night. As Jacobson and Co. expected, the Sycamores were crashing the strong side guard whenever Tuttle dribbled to the block, and also had the weak side big man - the one guarding either Singleton or Nate Buss, whoever's in the game at the time - there to help.

It created some frustrating possessions and an uncharacteristic five turnovers for Tuttle.

Luckily for Tuttle and the Panthers, when he displayed his deft passing ability, the shooters he found knocked down shots - in the first half at least.

'Yeah, I got a little frustrated tonight. They did a really, really good job being physical with whoever was guarding me - whether it be (Justin) Gant or (Jake) Kitchell,” Tuttle said. 'That first half we were spraying it and hitting 3s, and if they're going to play like that, we're going to take the pass and take the 3s. With Buss not having one of his better offensive nights, we put Marv in the short corner, opposite side so it allowed them to have that big guy sitting in there. We just had to find a way, and tonight we got one.”

The shooter most often making Indiana State pay was Matt Bohannon, who finished one point short of his season high with 17 points. He was 6 of 9 from the field and 5 of 8 from deep after getting free of a specialized defense.

Sycamores Coach Greg Lansing said the scouting report was focused heavily on Tuttle and shadowing Bohannon. He said defenders were not supposed to leave Bohannon, and it happened too often. He said, 'you can't give a guy like that easy shots; he's going to make them.”

For his part, the Linn-Mar grad has come to expect teams to shadow him. And rather than get outwardly frustrated, he said he's liked what it's done for his teammates. But that doesn't mean breaking out of a streak in conference play where he's shot just 18.2 percent from the field didn't feel great.

He broke out of the slump at the opportune time, and the Panthers head to Illinois State with six straight wins.

'I knew if I had an open shot I was going to take it, and I was going to be ready to shoot,” Bohannon said. 'Starting off this conference play, teams have been trying to shade out on me and not really help off me; haven't given me really many shots, which is fine.

'It kind of depends on the night because teams are going to play us so differently.”

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