Morgan’s Record-Setting Night Sparks UNI Comeback

Senior guard Jeremy Morgan scored all 38 of his points in the second half and led the UNI Panthers back from a halftime deficit to a 78-70 win over North Dakota at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls Saturday night (Dec. 10, 2016).

Morgan was 0-for-5 from the field in the first half with two rebounds in 14 minutes of action. That all changed in the second half as Morgan made 10-of-12 field goals attempt and was 16-of-22 from the foul line as he posted his fourth career double-double with 38 points and 11 rebounds. The point total was a career high for Morgan and the most by a UNI player at the McLeod Center.

UNI's school record for points in a game is 40 set by Jerry Waugh (1967-68 vs. North Dakota) and Cam Johnson (1993-94 vs. Drake).

The number of made free throws and free throws attempts by Morgan also established new arena and school records. Jake Koch previously went 15-of-16 at the free throw line in a game against Bradley on Jan. 9, 2011. Seth Tuttle later tied the attempts record against Evansville on Jan. 29, 2014. The previous McLeod Center standard for most attempts from the charity stripe was set in the same Evansville game two years ago, when D.J. Balentine of the Aces went to the line 22 times against UNI.

UNI (5-4 overall) ran its win streak to two in row, while North Dakota (5-3 overall) saw its two-game win streak snapped.

The Fighting Hawks came out strong and led 16-7 seven minutes into the contest as North Dakota's Carson Shanks scored 10 points on five field goal attempts. UNI used a 9-0 run to tie the game 16-16 and the Panthers took a 20-19 lead on a jumper from Hunter Rhodes with 7:55 left in the first half. The Fighting Hawks would close the half with Corey Baldwin draining a three-pointer from the corner, giving North Dakota a 33-29 lead at the break.

Morgan took control of the game for UNI after intermission, tallying all but 11 of the Panthers' 49 second-half points.

UND either led or was tied for the first 10 minutes of the second half before Morgan put UNI back on top 50-49 with 9:49 left in the game. The final tie of the contest came at 53-53 with 6:52 remaining. Morgan then led UNI on a 10-2 spurt to open up an eight-point advantage at 63-55.

The Fighting Hawks then narrowed the margin to four points at 63-59 on a layup from Shanks with 3:08 left. But UNI came out of a timeout and Klint Carlson rolled into the lane of a screen for a bucket to put UNI back up six and North Dakota would get no closer.

UP NEXT: UNI heads to Des Moines for the Hy-Vee Classic on Saturday. The Panthers play the Iowa Hawkeyes at 3:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.

Story Courtesy of UNI Athletics