Northern Iowa holds off Iona 90-78

Dec 28, 2013, 10:49 pm

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Seth Tuttle scored seven of his 11 points in the final 4:28 to help Northern Iowa hold off Iona 90-78 Saturday night.

Tuttle also grabbed 15 rebounds. UNI's Deon Mitchell scored 20 points, Nate Buss 19 and Chip Rank 14.

A 19-2 Panthers run resulted in a 68-53 lead with 11:27 remaining. Iona (5-6) responded with an 11-3 run with eight points from Sean Armand before Armand was called for a personal and technical and fouled out at 8:12. Five straight free throws rebuilt UNI's lead to 12. The Gaels got within six with 4:40 left but no closer thanks in large part to Tuttle.

The teams both had nine 3-pointers in a hot-shooting first half that left UNI (6-6) ahead 49-47.

Iona freshman Ryden Hines, with a previous high of six points, scored 19. Armand added 18, DaShawn Gomez 14 and Mike Poole 11. Iona has lost four straight.