National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Northern Iowa 68, Evansville 57
When: 9:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Where: McLeod Center, Cedar Falls, Iowa
Officials: # Hal Lusk, # Jeff Malham, # Kelly Pfeifer
Attendance: 6935

No. 10 Northern Iowa 68, Evansville 57: Deon Mitchell scored a season-high 17 points as the host Panthers broke the school record with their 16th straight victory.

Paul Jesperson finished with 11 points, including 3-of-3 3-pointers, and Seth Tuttle added 10 points and eight rebounds for Northern Iowa (27-2, 16-1 Missouri Valley), which shot 52.3 percent and connected on 9-of-21 3-pointers. The Panthers play at No. 11 Wichita State (26-3, 16-1) on Saturday for the conference title and the top seed in the MVC tourney.

D.J. Balentine scored 16 points, and Egidijus Mockevicius added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Evansville (19-10, 9-8). The Purple Aces finished with 15 turnovers which Northern Iowa turned into a 26-13 edge in points off turnovers.

Playing on Senior Night against the team that handed them their last loss on New Year's Day, the Panthers bolted out to a 13-4 lead with Matt Bohannon leading the way with back-to-back 3-pointers. The Purple Aces went on a 7-2 run capped by a Mockevicius layup to close to within 28-21, but Bohannon and Jesperson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to boost Northern Iowa's lead to 36-24 at halftime.

A layup by Marvin Singleton upped Northern Iowa's lead to 44-27 early in the second half before Evansville went on a 11-0 run to close to within 45-40 with a little over 12 minutes remaining. But Mitchell scored seven points, and Tuttle added six during a 20-6 run by the Panthers over the next nine minutes and Evansville never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Northern Iowa extended its home win streak to 18 games. ... Mockevicius registered his 17th double-double of the season and 24th in his last 37 games. ... Northern Iowa finished with a 24-14 edge in bench points.
Top Game Performances
 
Evansville   Northern Iowa
D.J. Balentine 16 Scoring Deon Mitchell 17
Duane Gibson 3 Assists Deon Mitchell 4
Egidijus Mockevicius 10 Rebounds Seth Tuttle 8
D.J. Balentine 3 Free Throws Made Deon Mitchell 6
Duane Gibson 5 Steals Deon Mitchell 2
Egidijus Mockevicius 3 Blocks Bennett Koch 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Evansville 57 47.7 3-8 12-17 9 23 4 9 15
Northern Iowa 68 52.3 9-21 13-17 11 21 4 7 12