Iowa Runs Past Bengals

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Dec. 4, 2010

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PARDON OUR PROGRESS! As friends of the UI and fans of the Hawkeyes know, the UI Athletics Department is well into a multi-million dollar revitalization of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. This important and exciting project has reduced for this season the number of ticket windows that are operational on game nights. Fans attending the home events of the 2010-11 UI men’s basketball, women’s basketball and wrestling teams are invited to avoid game night delays by purchasing their event tickets online or in advance of game day. If your schedule doesn’t allow for an advance purchase, we recommend you consider arriving at the Arena a little earlier than originally planned. Go Hawks!

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa evened its record at .500 with its 70-53 win over Idaho State on Saturday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but the 17-point margin of victory was closer than it appeared.

The Hawkeyes appeared to be headed for a rout in the early going, as they built a 15-2 lead over the first seven and a half minutes of the contest. Iowa then followed with an 18-5 spurt to take a 33-7 lead with 6:18 to play in the first half.

Idaho State, however, began to swing the momentum, as it closed out the opening 20 minutes with a 12-4 run to trim the deficit to 18 (37-19) at the break. The Bengals then made it a game, as they scored nine-of-the-first 11 points of the second half to make the score 39-28.

“The disconcerting thing for us is how we played at the end of the first half and to start the second half,” said UI head coach Fran McCaffery. “That was problematic in our previous game, so we wanted to address that, but we didn’t take care of it.”

Idaho State’s second half zone defense hampered the Hawkeyes, as Iowa made just 1-of-10 three-point attempts over the final 20 minutes and just 4-of-21 for the game.

A free throw by Eric May and a Matt Gatens lay-up pushed the lead back to 14 at 42-28, but Idaho State followed with a 14-6 run, eight of which came from the charity stripe, to cut the lead to six with 10:15 remaining. After a May triple made the score 51-42, ISU connected on four more free throws to pull to within five (51-46).

The Hawkeyes were able to weather the storm, however, as they used a 9-2 spurt to take control of the game. Iowa didn’t allow ISU to settle into its zone defense during the run, as the running-and-gunning led to three lay-ups and a three-point play off a Gatens dunk to make the score 60-48.

Iowa finished the game with a 22-2 edge in fast break points and a 38-18 advantage in points in the paint.

“Fortunately, we made enough plays defensively,” said McCaffery. “I thought down the stretch we had some guys make big plays and that was good to see. It was a good win for us, but we have to get better.”

Three Hawkeyes finished in double digits in the contest with Bryce Cartwright leading the way with 15 points, while orchestrating the fast break with a career-best eight assists. Gatens contributed 14 points and five steals, which tied a career-high.

The Hawkeyes will now prepare for an in-state match-up against Northern Iowa on Tuesday night. The Panthers will visit Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a 7:06 p.m. match-up.

“We have to come ready to play, just like we did today, right out of the gates and jump on them,” said Gatens. “It’s a huge game as a lot of people pay attention to it, and we have to take a sense of pride with it.”