Second-half outburst pushes Panthers past Jackson State

CEDAR FALLS — A second-half outburst sent Northern Iowa past Jackson State on Tuesday, 66-56.

Trailing 32-25 at halftime, AJ Green — who led all scorers with 24 points — jump-started a 21-2 run to begin the second half. Green hit two 3-pointers in three possessions and added a step-back jumpshot for an 8-0 run of his own that forced a quick JSU timeout.

After Green’s outburst, UNI (3-5, 0-1) executed some of its best half-court offense of its season, with impressive ball movement that routinely overwhelmed the Tigers. Tywhon Pickford, Trae Berhow, Noah Carter and Nate Heise each scored during the run.

“Tonight we just made the extra pass and we drove (against) closeouts sometimes that we would normally shoot and that was a big thing,” Heise said. “The way they have to guard AJ just brings so much attention to him, it takes it off the other guys like me.”

A week ago, before an eight-day gap between games, Tuesday’s result may well have been different for the Panthers.

The opportunity for UNI to use its time off proved valuable against the Tigers, as defensive energy looked heightened and help-side rotations were sharper.

“In that (time off), there was a few days where all we did was defense, (the) whole practice,” Green said. “Working on rotations (and) being where we’re supposed to be. Flying around and playing extremely hard. I think all those little things carried over tonight.”

Before the Panthers found their defensive footing, though, the Tigers raced out to a 13-4 lead in the game’s first five minutes. Three of Jackson State’s first four 3s found the net, but once its perimeter shooting began to fade, UNI’s rejuvenated defense paved the way for a comeback win.

“The reason why the second half had a little more offensive rhythm to it was defensively (Jackson State) scored (just) two points in the first eight, nine, 10 minutes,” UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. “I’ll have to look to see how many of those possessions we did what we needed to defensively. It felt like we were defending pretty well. That gets you into some offensive rhythm when you defend and are able to play off a missed shot.”

Heise and Carter joined Green in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Heise registered his first career double-double, adding 11 rebounds. Meanwhile, Green’s five 3s moved him past Johnny Moran and Marc Sonnen on UNI’s all-time list with 202 and left him just one shy of Ben Jacobson, who sits in second place.

UNI travels to West Virginia on Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip at the Cam Henderson Center against Marshall (7-3).