Nate Buss and Northern Iowa are favored over Wyoming in their Friday matchup. (Getty)
Final Score
Wyoming 24-30–54
Northern Iowa 35-36–71
The Missouri Valley Conference Champion, No. 5 seed Northern Iowa Panthers had an easy time defeating the No. 12 seed Wyoming Cowboys in a Round of 64 game in the Region of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Besides the Cowboys early 2nd-half run that cut the Panthers double-digit lead to seven, UNI mostly controlled the game and led by more than 10 throughout.
Northern Iowa’s bench is currently outscoring Wyoming’s 38-2 as the Panthers hold a 14-point lead with 2:05 remaining.
The key to the win? Northern Iowa’s bench DOMINATED the game’s scoring and was essentially the difference maker and then some. The Panthers became the third No. 5 seed to avoid the 5-12 upset curse — it really does seem like 3-14 is the new 5-12.
Northern Iowa plays the winner of No. 4 Louisville vs No. 13 UC-Irvine in the Round of 32 on Sunday.
Click here for a full box score and continued recap of the game.
Panthers Holding Off the Cursed 5-12 Game History Through 1 Half
The only thing that can stop Wyoming’s savage dunk is this terrible charge call: http://t.co/uUOn7Zsxl9
This excellent dunk was called back by an early charge call.
Northern Iowa leads Wyoming 35-24 at halftime. Panthers are 24-1 this season when leading at the half
Northern Iowa has been remarkable this season, going 24-1 in games where they led at halftime. Panthers forward Seth Tuttle leads all scorers with 10 points.
Larry Nance Jr., the Cowboys best player, was held to one point on just one shot attempt.
Northern Iowa Is Slowly Pulling Away
The lead was up to 19 with just over four minutes into the 2nd half. The Panthers benefited from phenomenal three-point shooting, shooting well over 50%.
Wyoming Ain’t Dead Yet…
Wyoming coming back from the dead. 11-0 run to get within 10.
Wyoming cut the Panthers lead to 50-43.
This was the closest that the Cowboys would come in the 2nd half. The Panthers quickly hit a few shots to extend the lead back to 12, where it would stay through the final 10 minutes of the game.
