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Surging Northern Iowa wins fifth straight

Sports

January 28th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Klint Carlson made three 3-pointers and scored 17 points and surging Northern Iowa defeated Drake 71-63 on Saturday. The Panthers (10-11, 5-5) lost their first five Missouri Valley Conference games but now have won five in a row.

Jeremy Morgan, making 8 of 10 free throws, scored 16 points, and Bennett Koch also scored 16 points, on 7-of-8 shooting, for Northern Iowa, which made 20 of 27 free throws to 7 of 10 for Drake. Ore Arogundade had three 3-pointers and 15 points to lead the Bulldogs (7-15, 5-5), who had a five-game home winning streak snapped.

An 8-0 run with a 3-pointer from Carlson and a basket and 3-pointer from Luke McDonnell gave the Panthers the lead for good at 44-37 with 10:45 left. Arogundade made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to four with just under eight minutes left but Northern Iowa answered with a 12-5 run to lead by 11 and Drake wouldn’t get closer than eight.