Panthers edge St. Bonaventure, 62-52

CEDAR FALLS — Northern Iowa edged out St. Bonaventure in a back-and-forth game Wednesday night at McLeod Center, 62-52.

A quick 7-0 run by the Bonnies (6-7) — sparked by 5 points from big man Chad Venning and a Yann Farrel jumper — forced UNI head coach Ben Jacobson to use a timeout as his team clung to a 37-36 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining.

After the timeout, a switch back to its base flow offense reignited the Panthers (5-7, 1-1), as Bowen Born hit two of his three 3-pointers, Michael Duax converted a pair of driving, contested layups and Tytan Anderson added two of his game-high six free throws and a layup for a nine-point lead with 4:20 remaining.

“All of the sudden, they’ve got some momentum and they’ve got the energy on their side, so we had to go get (a lead) again and we weren’t at a point a couple weeks ago where we were ready to do that,” Jacobson said. “Now we’ve done it in back-to-back games, that’s a really good step.”

Only four second-half turnovers and a career-high 25 points from Anderson went a long way in the Panthers’ efforts to stave off a Bonnies team that refused to go away.

Anderson produced a 7-0 run of his own before halftime and added another seven immediately after halftime, as St. Bonaventure’s decision to have Venning match up on the sophomore backfired. He also added 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.

“To start the second half was all set plays (for Tytan) trying to attack (Venning),” Jacobson said. “(Tytan) just moved a little too well for (Venning).”

UNI’s first separation of the game came early on, with a 13-0 run that featured a pair of Cole Henry layups along with an assist.

Henry — who finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists — is in the midst of the best three-game stretch of his career and Jacobson praised the redshirt sophomore post-game.

“Just really proud of him for getting through that (ankle injury),” Jacobson said. “We sat down and had a really good talk about things and just the willingness to look at it for what it was. The willingness to come out of the starting lineup and go to the bench. He just said, ‘If I’m going to be in that starting lineup, I need to play better.’ Because he passes so well, he has a monster impact on what happens with the other players. He has such a positive impact on guys being able to have a little bit easier shots.”

UNI returns to action next Wednesday at home against Missouri State (5-7, 1-1), with tipoff set for 7 p.m. (ESPN+).