Determined UNI men’s basketball team upsets Drake, 91-79

CEDAR FALLS — A 12-0 run to begin the second half helped Northern Iowa upset Drake at McLeod Center Saturday evening, 91-79.

Leading 43-39 at halftime, the Panthers (16-13, 10-8 MVC) quickly surrendered their first lead of the game as the Bulldogs (23-6, 14-4) scored the first six points of the second half.

UNI’s 12-0 game-winning run then began, and did so dramatically, as Jacob Hutson — who entered Saturday’s game with one made 3-pointer this season — swished his second of three 3s in the game over Darnell Brodie.

“I was kind of forced to shoot the first one because the shot clock was expiring, so that gave me some confidence,” UNI center Jacob Hutson said. “But, yeah, it was a lot of fun being able to hit those 3s and win this game.”

Nate Heise followed Hutson with a dunk and Bowen Born followed with back-to-back 3s — the second turning into a four-point play that sent an announced crowd of 4,674 into a frenzy as the Panthers pushed their lead to 55-45 with 16:54 remaining.

“It was great,” UNI Coach Ben Jacobson said of his team’s energy. “And I think the other part of that message is these guys continuing to understand what they’re capable of, one, and then two, that it’s hard. As you go through this, the level of determination we had against Bradley in the first half (and) the level of determination that we had today — it matters. Because we’ve got a really good roster.”

Hoping to hang on to its share of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference, reigning player of the year Tucker DeVries kept Drake within striking distance, compiling a game-high 28 points.

DeVries made a deep, right-wing 3, and a layup he converted as a three-point play to pull the Bulldogs back within four with 14:12 remaining.

Drake got no closer than it did after DeVries’ mini outburst, though. Meanwhile, Hutson’s third 3 extended UNI’s lead back to eight with 9:14 to play.

“We’ve still got time to play our best basketball,” Jacobson said. “I’ve referred to the Bradley (win) a couple times — it was 20 of our best minutes of the year. Tonight was closer to 40 (minutes) and that gets us closer to playing our best with Tuesday (and) Sunday (games) and (the MVC tournament) coming up.”

Just before Hutson’s final display of sharpshooting, both teams entered the bonus and the Panthers took advantage, making 11 free throws that helped push their lead to a game-high 17 with 3:48 left.

The Bulldogs tied the score four times in a closely contested first half and Tytan Anderson started a 9-2 UNI run — the largest of the first 20 minutes — with a layup on a Cole Henry assist. A Landon Wolf floater followed and turned into a three-point play. RJ Taylor dropped in a step-through jumper and a left-handed hook shot from Henry gave UNI a 19-12 lead less than 10 minutes into the game.

Anderson and Heise led five Panthers in double figures with 18 points a piece and Anderson added a career-high tying 18 rebounds. Born finished with 16 points, Hutson added 14 and Wolf added 10 off the bench.

UNI also finished with a season-high 25 fast-break points and scored 11 points on nine Drake turnovers.

“I think just in general, all the categories, (UNI) was just more aggressive,” Drake coach Darian DeVries said. “I thought their fight was terrific from start to finish. That was the difference in the game. Anderson with 18 rebounds — that’s impressive.”

UNI returns to action Tuesday at home for its regular-season finale against Valparaiso (6-22, 2-15). Tip-off at McLeod Center is at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).