Iowa holds off Northern Iowa, 65-46
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The tide was turning against the Hawkeyes.
Anthony Tucker, Iowa's leading scorer, was suspended. The Hawkeyes defense was sluggish, and they were trailing by seven to rival Northern Iowa late in the first half.
Iowa responded by firing 3-pointers, hitting its free throws and spreading the ball around, as the Hawkeyes rallied in the second half to blow past the Panthers 65-46.
Sophomore guard Jake Kelly led Iowa (8-2) with 19 points, Jeff Peterson had 18 points and five assists and Gatens added 14 points for Iowa, which won for the third time in four games.
"I wasn't trying to take over the game or anything," Kelly said. "I was trying to come off a screen, see what the defense was giving me and take advantage of it."
The Hawkeyes more than got by without Tucker, as guards Kelly, Peterson and Gatens combined to shoot 19-of-34 from the field.
"Anthony's our leading scorer," Kelly said. "We're going to have to pick up the slack. We have other players out there and we're going to try to do as best we can with what we've got."
The Panthers (5-4) shot a dismal 5-for-21 from 3-point range in dropping their second straight to an instate rival.
The Panthers fell to Iowa State in overtime 71-66 last week.
Guard Ali Farokhmanesh shot just 1-for-7 from beyond the arc, but Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said he's not concerned about his team's 3-point shooting or Farokhmanesh in particular.
"(Farokhmanesh) can really shoot the basketball," Jacobson said. "He's got the green light and will continue to have the green light."
Northern Iowa held tight early, trailing 23-22 at halftime. But the Hawkeyes shot 60 percent in the second half, and Kelly's jumper with 8:47 left capped a 12-0 run that put Iowa ahead 42-29.
Johnny Moran and Adam Koch each had 10 points for Northern Iowa, which took just 40 shots and grabbed only four offensive rebounds.
The Panthers had pulled within two on a field goal from Johnny Moran that made it 30-28. But the Hawkeyes began to pull away on consecutive baskets from Cyrus Tate and Peterson that pushed Iowa's lead to 36-29.
The Hawkeyes then started to pour it on, punctuated by a Kelly jumper with 9:28 left that put Iowa up 40-29.
Jermain Davis then nailed a 3-pointer that put Iowa up 54-41 with 3:05 left.
"Cyrus (Tate) did a great job setting screens and sealing his man off which allowed me, Jake, Matt and Jermain to get to the rim," Peterson said. "We wanted to come out in the second half and be a lot more aggressive."
Northern Iowa got 3-pointers from Moran and Travis Brown that put the Panthers up 22-15 late in the opening half.
Iowa responded by toughening up on defense, and Kelly brought the crowd back to life with a 3 that cut the Panthers' lead to 22-20.
Devan Bawinkel added a 3 to give the Hawkeyes their first lead in nearly six minutes, 23-22. Iowa didn't give that lead the rest of the night.
Northern Iowa has now dropped 21 of 22 in Iowa City. Their lone win came in 2006, when the Panthers beat Iowa in Jacobson's first season.