CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Indiana State men's basketball fell in the first of their two-game swing trip, falling to Northern Iowa 75-66.
 
Ian Scott led the way offensively for Indiana State, scoring 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Sterling Young was right behind with 14 points off the bench, finishing 6-for-9 from the floor. Jo Van Buggenhout finished with seven points, five rebounds, and seven assists.
 
Northern Iowa held the lead early on, 11-7, at the first media timeout at 15:36. The Panthers made their first 5-of-7 shots in the game. Camp Wagner made a corner three coming out of a timeout, followed by a Van Buggenhout layup.
 
The game would be tied at the 12:42 mark at 18 apiece, then the game would go scoreless until the 9:46 mark when Young stopped the drought with a layup. He would go on to score back-to-back layups – three in a row – for a personal 6-0 run which would give the Sycamores a 24-18 lead with 8:07 left in the first half.
 
Derek Vorst drained a wide open three-pointer from the top of the key at the 6:34 mark, pushing the Sycamores' lead to eight points, 29-21.
 
Back-to-back steals was capitalized on by a Bruno Alocen layup, forcing a Panther timeout with 4:23 on the clock, as Indiana State led 33-25. Northern Iowa scored four straight, but Enel St. Bernard converted an and-one that was followed by Scott layup to lead 38-29. UNI scored the last two buckets of the half for a 38-33 Sycamore lead at the break.
 
The teams were tied at an even 28-28 in paint points in the first half. All nine players who entered the game for Indiana State scored at least two points, and all but one player grabbed at least one rebound.
 
Northern Iowa opened the half on a 15-6 through the first seven minutes of the half. Van Buggenhout drilled a three, got a steal, and made the layup for a personal 5-0 run, but UNI outscored the Sycamores 7-2 over the next 90 seconds to lead at the under-12 media, 62-53.
 
A Young tough and-one was followed with a Panther layup at the 7:30 mark, then neither team could find the basket for the next four game minutes – Alocen stopped the drought with a three-pointer with 3:30 left in the game, cutting the lead down to three, 67-64.
 
The Panthers responded with a layup and held onto the five-point lead before making four free throws in the final 30 seconds, giving Northern Iowa the 75-66 victory.
 
News & Notes

• The Sycamores shot 52.7% (29-for-55) from the field, the second-best effort against Division I opponents this season and fourth-best overall.
  • Indiana State made 23-of-29 from inside the arc (79.3%), the best two-point shooting night of the season.
• The 66 points scored by Indiana State is the third highest by a Northern Iowa opponent this season, and the most since December 6 (74 in overtime by Wichita State).
• Northern Iowa shot 54.4% against the Sycamores on Thursday night, the best percentage by a Sycamore opponent this season.
  • This is the highest since last season on February 11, 2025, when Northern Iowa shot 58.2% from the field in Cedar Falls.
• Indiana State attempted four free throw attempts (2-for-4) to Northern Iowa's 15 (10-for-15).
• The Panthers grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, leading to 12 second chance points.
• The Sycamores recorded only 22 rebounds in the game, a season low. It's the lowest since February 27, 2021 when the Sycamores grabbed 22 rebounds against Valparaiso.
• Jo Van Buggenhout recorded career highs of five rebounds and seven assists.
• Derek Vorst swatted two shots for the second-straight game. He has six blocks in the last four games, after recording only one in his first seven games of the season.
• Sterling Young has averaged 13.5 points per game through the last two games, shooting 64.7% (11-for-17) from the field and 50% from three (4-for-8).

 
Up Next
Indiana State will play at Drake on Sunday, January 4 with a 3 p.m. ET start time.
 
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