Western Dubuque’s Haldeman commits to UNI

CEDAR FALLS - It wasn't just the Iowa Hawkeyes that nabbed a shooting guard Monday.

Western Dubuque junior all-stater Spencer Haldeman said on Twitter Monday night he has verbally committed to play basketball for the Northern Iowa Panthers.

The 6-foot-2 Haldeman burst onto the scene this season, named a first-team all-stater in Class 3A by the Iowa Newspaper Association after averaging 24.3 points. That ranked second in 3A.

He shot 39.1 percent from 3-point range and 88.4 from the free-throw line, pouring in a school-record 44 points in a substate semifinal loss in March to state champion Dubuque Wahlert. Haldeman had other offers from Drake, Northern Colorado, South Dakota and South Dakota State.

'I don't think I've ever had a kid who can see the floor, see the open man like Spencer,” Western Dubuque Coach Dennis Geraghty said in an Iowa Prep Sports story this past season.