Northern Iowa 58, Loyola-Chicago 39

[February 19, 2015]   By Jack McCarthy, The Sports Xchange
 
 CHICAGO -- Forwards Seth Tuttle and Nate Buss each scored 10 points to lead the No. 11 Northern Iowa Panthers to a 58-39 Missouri Valley Conference victory over the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers on Wednesday at Gentile Arena.

The Panthers (25-2, 14-1 MVC) broke a two-game Gentile Arena losing streak, extended their current winning run to 14 and tied a school record with their seventh straight road win.

Northern Iowa also reclaimed a share of the league lead with idle Wichita State.

Guards Devon Turk and Ben Richardson each scored six points for the Ramblers (16-11, 6-9), who saw a two-game winning streak snapped and have lost eight times in 10 all-time meetings.

Buss had 10 points, all in the first half. He went two of five on 3-pointers and has now hit from beyond the arc in eight straight games.

Northern Iowa used a 10-2 run over a span of 3:10 in the second half to open a 45-27 lead on Tuttle's layup with 13:45 to play.

The Ramblers never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way as they scored their fewest points this season.

It was also the tied for fewest allowed this season by Northern Iowa. Southern Illinois managed 39 points against the Panthers on Jan. 7.

The Panthers outrebounded the Ramblers 32-21 and shot 22 of 48 (45.8 percent) to the Ramblers 16 of 41 (39.9 percent).

Northern Iowa never trailed and its lead reached double digits at 16-6 after a Buss baseline jumper with 11:40 remaining until halftime.

Buss gave the Panthers their largest lead at 28-15 with his second 3-pointer with 3:49 left.

Northern Iowa took a 30-18 lead into halftime.

Loyola made just 7 of 21 shots from the field in the first 20 minutes, including three 3-pointers, and were outrebounded 21-7.

NOTES: Loyola entered Wednesday with back-to-back conference wins for the first time since joining the Missouri Valley Conference last year. ... G Milton Doyle, the Ramblers' scoring (11.5) and assists (4.2) leader, missed his ninth straight game with an ankle/foot injury. ... Freshman G Ben Richardson, who has filled in, was averaging 23.1 minutes per game and 8.0 points in the last four games. ... Loyola F Christian Thomas is one of six active Division I players with 1,000 points, 600 rebounds and 20 made 3-pointers while shooting above 50 percent. Northern Iowa F Seth Tuttle is among the others . ... Tuttle is fourth in the nation this week in field goal percentage (.629) and leads the team with an 18.2-point average. ... The Panthers are No. 11 in two national polls this week -- their highest ranking ever. ... Northern Iowa is fifth nationally in scoring defense, giving up an average 54.9 points. ... Both teams continue conference play on Saturday as Northern Iowa hosts Bradley and Loyola travels to Illinois State.

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