PANTHERS TOUGH LATE TO HOLD OFF JACKRABBITS

Sunday, November 9

Cedar Falls, Iowa

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

2-1,0-0Summit League

Northern Iowa

2-0,0-0MVC

South Dakota St.

UNI

Joe Sayler

11/9/2025 4:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Andrew Pedersen

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Northern Iowa forced 17 South Dakota State turnovers, while outshooting the Jackrabbits by a 49-43% clip, to hang on late for a 65-58 victory over the Jackrabbits in the McLeod Center on Sunday.

The Panthers got out to an 18-11 lead in the opening half before the Jackrabbits made a run. SDSU responded with a nine-point scoring stretch, with seven courtesy of Joe Sayler, to jump ahead 20-18 with 8 minutes, 41 seconds on the clock.

Northern Iowa scored six consecutive points to get back in front, 24-20. The Panthers never trailed again. Both sides had slow starts offensively as an Alec Squires put-back dunk cut the deficit for the Jacks down to 28-25 at the halftime break.

SDSU outrebounded UNI by a 20-11 margin in the opening 20 minutes, but a 10-4 edge in turnovers with the Panthers committing just three personal fouls made the difference in the first half.

The Missouri Valley Conference's second place team in the league's preseason poll started to find its rhythm at the start of the second half. SDSU briefly trimmed the score to 28-26, however Northern Iowa scored seven straight points to make it 35-26 and force Jackrabbit head coach Bryan Petersen to call timeout.

SDSU trailed 37-28 when the utilized another seven-point scoring run to get the contest back to a one-possession game. Two straight field goals in the paint from Damon Wilkinson, followed by a Kalen Garry layup, cut the score to 37-35 with 13:32 to play.

The Panthers called timeout and were able to respond with seven consecutive points. SDSU continued to keep things interesting as a layup by Wilkinson trimmed the margin to 46-43 with 7:46 remaining. Northern Iowa's ensuing play saw Leon Bond III drain a 3-pointer and the Panthers wouldn't allow the matchup to get within a single possession again.

Northern Iowa improved to 2-0 with the win. The Panthers were 49% from the field and 6 of 18 from 3-point range. They had 13 assists on 24 field goals while recorded eight steals.

South Dakota State dropped to 2-1 in the loss. The Jackrabbits shot 43% and were just 5-for-22 (22.7%) from deep. SDSU outrebounded UNI 39-23 in the defeat.

NOTES

South Dakota State fell to 2-5 during its Division I era against Northern Iowa. The Panthers have won all five meetings the two have played in Cedar Falls in that span.
The Jackrabbits had three double-digit scorers. Wikinson and Sayler each had 16 points. Wilkinson also had a game-high 10 rebounds to record his first-career double-double with career highs in both categories.
Garry added nine points for the Jackrabbits along with two steals. Jaden Jackson had team highs in assists (4) and steals (3).
Tristan Smith led a trio of Panther double-digit scorers with 16. He also had four assists and two steals.
SDSU led for just over three minutes of the matchup while UNI led for over 31 minutes.

UP NEXT
South Dakota State continues its road travels for its next game. The Jackrabbits travel to Eugene, Ore., to face the Ducks at 8:30 p.m. CT.

-GoJacks.com-