Belmont three-point shooting stifles Panthers in first MVC loss of the season.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Jack Smiley helped lead Belmont over Northern Iowa on Wednesday with 19 points off the bench in a 78-65 victory.

Smiley added six assists for the Bruins (14-3, 4-2 Missouri Valley Conference). Drew Scharnowski scored 18 points and added nine rebounds. Tyler Lundblade added 14.

Ben Schwieger finished with 12 points for the Panthers (12-4, 4-1). Max Weisbrod added 12 points for Northern Iowa. Leon Bond III also had 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Belmont took the lead for good with 15:04 remaining in the first half. The score was 36-32 at halftime, with Smiley racking up 11 points. Belmont pulled away with a 15-2 run in the second half to extend a three-point lead to 16 points. They outscored Northern Iowa by nine points in the final half, as Scharnowski led the way with a team-high 10 second-half points.

HEAR FROM BEN JACOBSON

“You have to be highly determined defensively to keep making the right decisions and for Belmont to get out to that lead put them in a good spot,” said head coach Ben Jacobson. “We found a couple stretches where we got into the open floor, but we kept having to fight back from down seven, down nine, down 14 at one point. It comes back to transition defense, half court defense and defensive rebounds. Our rebounding was good tonight, but in the other two areas we’re going to see on the film that we made enough mistakes that allowed them to play with the lead most of the night.”

UNI ADDITIONAL NOTES

• UNI falls to 4-3 all-time against Belmont, snapping a four game winning streak against the Bruins.
• Northern Iowa’s three turnovers are tied for its season-low after previously turning the ball over three times against Loyola-Chicago at the Acrisure Holiday Invitational.
• Ben Schwieger is 28 points shy of becoming the 116th member of UNI’s 500 career point club.
• Kyle Pock made his first career start on Wednesday night in his 81st career game played.

Up Next

The Panthers return to action on Saturday, Jan. 10 as they visit Peoria to take on the Bradley Braves. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT at Carver Arena with live coverage available on ESPNU and the Panther Sports Radio Network (93.5 The Mix).