March 28, 2024

UNI reaches CIT semis with win over Bradley

CEDAR FALLS (UNI) — The University of Northern Iowa advanced to the semifinals of the 2013 CollegeInsider.com Tournament with a 90-77 victory over the Bradley Braves.

UNI (21-14 overall) will host a CIT semifinal on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the McLeod Center. UNI will take on the winner of the Oral Roberts-Weber State game. ORU plays at Weber State on Wednesday.

All five Panther starters reached double figures in scoring led by senior Anthony James with 21 points. Sophomore Seth Tuttle tallied 19 points and nine rebounds. Senior Jake Koch scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Senior Marc Sonnen knocked down three 3-pointers and posted 13 points. Sophomore Deon Mitchell scored 10 points and tied a career high with eight assists.

Bradley led by as many as 10 points in the first half at 29-19 with 7:02 left. The Braves went on a 15-5 run after an early 14-14 tie. UNI whittled away at the Bradley lead and tied the game at 35-35 on a pair of free throws from Koch. UNI re-took the lead at 40-38 on a 3-pointer from Sonnen. Bradley was able to tie the game at 40-40 on a layup with :03 left from Lemon Jr.

UNI came out on a 13-4 run to start the second half and opened up a 53-44 lead with 15:35 remaining in the game. Bradley cut the lead back to six at 60-54, but the Panthers used three-pointers from redshirt freshman Matt Bohannon, sophomore Marvin Singleton and James to pushed the lead to 71-59 with 8:59 left in the game.

Bradley pulled to within seven points at 71-64, but UNI responded again and pushed the margin to 14 at 80-66 with 5:38 left in the game.