TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - No. 20 Northern Iowa used a balanced scoring attack to down Indiana State 67-58 in front of 3,407 fans inside Hulman Center.

ISU falls to 11-9, 3-6 MVC at the mid-point of the Valley campaign, while UNI maintained its advantage on the rest of the conference and improved to 17-2, 8-1 MVC.

UNI hit 23-of-45 shots from the field (51.1 percent) while the Sycamores were limited to a 21-of-54 showing (38.9 percent). The Panthers also owned a 35-23 advantage on the boards, using 10 offensive rebounds to score 11 second chance points.

ISU was able to force 14 UNI turnovers and converted them into 13 points.

Rashad Reed's 14 points ( 5-of-9 from the field), including a pair of 3-pointers, paced the Sycamores. Marshall added 13 as he reached double figures scoring for a team-best 16th time and the ninth consecutive contest. Brant Leitnaker added 10 points as he returned to a starting role.

Northern Iowa led by a count of 30-19 at the half and extended the lead out to as many as 14 (43-29) with 13:54 left in the game on a jumper by Ali Farokhmanesh.

A lay-up by Marshall with 13 minutes on the clock kick-started a 6-0 Sycamore spurt that also featured a pair of free throws each by Marshall and Reed as ISU cut the UNI cushion down to 43-35 with 10 minutes to go. The Panthers responded with a pair of free throws before Aaron Carter scored on a fast break dunk with nine minutes to go as the Sycamores answered to make it 45-37.

An offensive putback by Leitnaker put him in double figures scoring and continued to inch the Sycamores closer - 45-39 with eight minutes left in the contest.

UNI was able to stem the tide with a triple by Farokhmanesh to open up a 48-39 advantage with 7:52 left and then tacked on two more on a lay-up by Ahelegbe for a 50-39 advantage.

The Sycamores were able to close to 52-45 on a running jumper by Marshall with three minutes left as ISU was able to score on three consecutive possessions but UNI answered with made free throws as ISU was forced to foul.

Down 56-49 with 1:14 to play following a lay-up by Koang Doluony, Farokhmanesh made a pair of free throws to stretch the lead out to 58-49 and following a Doluony missed 3-pointer, UNI's Adam Koch hit a pair of charity tosses to make it 60-49 with 58 ticks left.

Doluony and Marshall would add 3-pointers in the final 22 seconds as UNI escaped with a 67-58 lead.

Northern Iowa would strike first in the contest, scoring on each of their first two possessions. Rashad Reed answered with next five points as the Sycamores took a 5-4 advantage with 17 minutes to go in the opening stanza.

With the Sycamores trailing 15-11 as the clock ticked under 10 minutes to go, ISU scored four consecutive points to knot the score with eight minutes on the clock. A lay-up by Leitnaker made it 15-13 and the game was knotted at 15 on a basket by Richard.

UNI answered with a 10-0 run that encompassed a six-minute span as the Sycamores were held scoreless and found themselves trailing 25-15 with 2:42 left on the clock. Leitnaker was the victim of an intentional foul whistled on UNI's Jordan Eglseder and he hit both free throws to cut the Panther lead down to 25-17. The Panthers took a first half-high lead of 30-19 on a 3-point shot by Kerwin Dunham with 54 seconds left.

Richard and Reed paced ISU with five points each in the first half.

Indiana State returns to action on Thursday, January 28 when the Sycamores conclude the two-game home stand against Southern Illinois. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. (ET) inside Hulman Center.

Northern Iowa at Indiana State
Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010
Postgame Press Conference

Indiana State Head Coach Kevin McKenna
Opening Statement
"Northern Iowa is a very good team. When you make a mistake, they make you pay. They're just solid in every aspect of the game. They play physical, they play smart, they play hard. They don't make many mistakes, and if you do make a mistake, they make you pay."

On playing against Northern Iowa
"You'd better bring your hardhat, because they're a tough, physical team. You have to make physical plays, and you have to be strong with the ball. You have to grind like crazy. You have to play really hard and really smart. They make you pay when you make a mistake at both ends."

On the absence of Dwayne Lathan from the lineup
"He's tried to go here. He just doesn't have his explosiveness or timing yet. He's closer, but he just wasn't ready to go. We just have to keep working with the guys we have until he is ready."

Senior Harry Marshall
On Northern Iowa
"It's definitely a rivalry now. That's what I would call it. It's just a tough game. They're a tough team, well-coached, they're not going to beat themselves. You have to go in and beat them. Last year, they won the championship, and now they're showing that they're champions for a reason. Any team you have coming in like that - confident, well-coached and clicking well - it's hard to beat them. It's a small margin for error."

On having a short roster this week
"We've been short the last couple of games. We all play basketball. That's what we came here to do. When somebody steps out, somebody's going to get some more time. Somebody's going to have to do a little more production. That's what we came here to do. You can't complain or dread on somebody being injured."

On making a run in the first half
"We weren't doing a great job, but I thought we were doing a good job. Championship teams always make runs. They say basketball is a game of runs, but in the championship game, they know how to close out halves. They know how to finish halves, and I think that was a big key tonight. It shows that they're a championship team with closing out halves and coming out aggressive."

Junior center Brant Leitnaker
On matching up with UNI's Jordan Eglseder
"He's a big guy like me. You have to lean on him a little bit. I had help from Harry (Marshall) and other guys all night. We just didn't get it done."

Northern Iowa Head Coach Ben Jacobson
On not having Johnny Moran on the floor
"In terms of the Xs and Os, it doesn't change what we're doing at either end of the floor. Johnny's a kid who has a ton of energy, a ton of toughness. He's in the middle. He's around the ball a lot. He's in the middle if something is going on. Johnny really adds to our basketball team. The guys today knew we weren't going to have that, so they each had to do a little bit more. Kerwin (Dunham) had a very good game."

On tonight's win
"I thought we defended very well in the first half. Indiana State got off to a good start, but then we defended well the last 10 minutes of the half. In the second half, they made two runs at us and had a chance to make it a two-possession game. I thought our guys did a good job offensively of moving the basketball, getting Jordan touches. Jordan either got something to the rim or got something to teammates. He got us some pretty easy shots today on that post. I like the toughness that we played with today."

On the play of Kerwin Dunham
"He's done a very good job defensively all year. He's kind of taken over from Travis Brown last year. Travis was playing 25 minutes a game the last month and a half and did a great job defensively for us and knocked in big shots. Kerwin's kind of taken that role on and done a great job with it. He just hasn't scored as much to get noticed by people outside of our basketball team. Our guys have a ton of confidence in Kerwin. He plays with a high level of confidence. He's a hard-nosed kid, and today we needed some more out of him, and he gave it to us."

Senior guard Ali Farokhmanesh
On Northern Iowa's up and down week
"We faced a lot of things coming in to this week, and we probably didn't handle Wichita State all that well. They're a good team also, and you can't go in there just expecting to win. They took it to us a little bit. They played our game against us, and we need to be able to play our game well enough. Then we came here, and after that loss, we really had to bounce back. I think we showed up today. The biggest difference in the game is that when Johnny is out, we need someone to step up. I think we can always rely on somebody, and tonight it was Kerwin. Coach always talks about being ready when it's your night. Kerwin was ready tonight."

Junior guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe
On tonight's lineup
"We have a lot of great players on this team who are always ready. Kerwin really stepped up big for us. He made some big defensive stops and some big shots. But that's Kerwin."

On Anthony James
"AJ and Marc (Sonnen) - those guys are always ready. They're always focused. That's what's great about our team. We go 12-, 13-deep every game, so that's great."