Men's Basketball 12/19/2009 4:00:00 PM Ryan Powell, UND Media Relations

Bevy of 3-pointers lead Northern Iowa past Sioux, 64-41

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Reserve guard Marc Sonnen tallied a career-high 21 points to lead Northern Iowa to a 64-41 victory over North Dakota on Saturday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Sonnen scored all 21 of his points from beyond the arc as he sank seven of his team's 14 3-pointers in the contest.

UNI head coach Ben Jacobson returned to his alma mater and coached the Panthers (8-1) to their seventh straight victory, while the Sioux (1-11) suffered their seventh straight setback.

“You have to pick your poison with a team like Northern Iowa. They have so much depth,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “We did a nice job on their top three scorers, but a guy off the bench gets a hot hand and scores 21.

UND's Chris Clausen (Adelaide, Australia) was 4-for-4 from the field for the second straight game and led the Sioux with 10 points. Seniors Travis Merterns (Devils Lake, N.D.) and Travis Bledsoe (Minneapolis, Minn.) each added eight points for the Sioux.

Sonnen reached double figures for the first time in his brief career and picked up the slack for UNI's top three scorers (42.7 ppg combined coming in), who were held to 16 points by the Sioux defense. The Panthers' bench outscored UND's 31-14.

UNI's ability to knock down the 3-point shot was the difference in the contest. The freshman from St. Paul, Minn., went 7-for-8 from beyond the arc after coming into the contest with just 15 points (1.9 ppg) and a 3-for-11 showing from 3-point territory in his first eight games for the reigning Missouri Valley Champions.

Fourteen of the Panthers' 18 field goals were 3-pointers as UNI went just 4-for-13 from inside the arc. Point guard Ali Farokhmanesh was the only other Panther to reach double digits with 11 points.

UNI put the game away by closing the first half on a 13-2 run. A lay-up by Clausen with 7:09 to play in the opening 20 minutes pulled the Sioux to within 21-18, but UND did not score another field goal the rest of the half. The Panthers used the drought by the home team to build a 34-20 advantage at the break.

A quick 4-0 spurt by the Sioux to open the second half put their deficit back to just 10 points, but Adam Koch drilled a 3-pointer to spark a 10-2 run that ended any thoughts of a UND rally.

The Sioux will wrap up pre-Christmas play next Tuesday with a road game at Iowa State. Tip-off between UND and the Cyclones is set for 7 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on ESPN360.com.

- Go Sioux -

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