UNI took control late as the Panthers beat 23rd ranked Creighton 61-54 in Cedar Falls. The game was knotted at 49 with just over three minutes remaining when Matt Bohannon put UNI up for good with a three-pointer off of a loose ball.
UNI was led by senior Jake Koch, who tallied 14 points…nine of them in the game’s final three minutes. Koch says he was just trying to play aggressively. UNI coach Ben Jacobson says it was enjoyable to see Koch have such a good stretch late in an important game.
“A lot of fun for me to see that and watch that, it did some of everything during that stretch,” Jacobson says. Creighton All-American Doug McDermott scored 15 points for Creighton, but only three of them came in the second half. Jacobson says he was happy with UNI’s defensive effort against a Creighton team that is equally capable of scoring both on the perimeter and in the paint.
UNI improves to 8-6 in the Valley and is now just a game behind Creighton for third place in the league standings. The Panthers will head to Des Moines on Saturday for an in-state match-up against Drake.
By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls