Panthers pummel St. Ambrose for first win

Five players scored in double figures for the Northern Iowa men’s basketball team and the Panthers picked up their first win of the season, an easy 98-53 victory over St. Ambrose on Friday night at the McLeod Center.

Trae Berhow led all players with 18 points for UNI (1-3), which jumped out to a 52-27 halftime lead over the Fighting Bees (1-1). Noah Carter added 17 points, Bowen Born scored 16 points, James Betz chipped in 14 off the bench and Nate Heise finished with 11 points and a team-leading nine rebounds.

The Panthers forced St. Ambrose into 22 turnovers and held the Fighting Bees to 2-for-25 shooting from 3-point range.

Michael Williams led St. Ambrose, an NAIA school, with nine points. John Kerr had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Northern Iowa 98, St. Ambrose 53

ST. AMBROSE (1-1) — Williams 4-12 1-3 9, Kazanecki 3-8 0-0 6, Kerr 4-7 0-0 8, Kaczmarek 2-4 0-0 5, Schols 1-4 0-0 2, Friel 2-7 4-4 8, Kizer 2-6 0-0 4, Moeller 4-6 0-0 8, Rohr 1-5 0-0 3, Affolter 0-1 0-0 0, Kalmas 0-1 0-0 0, Torrey 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23-62 5-8 53.

N. IOWA (1-3) — Carter 6-11 4-4 17, Phyfe 3-6 0-1 6, Berhow 7-9 1-2 19, Born 7-19 1-1 16, Pickford 2-3 1-1 5, Heise 3-4 4-4 11, Gauger 2-5 0-0 4, Betz 6-9 0-0 14. TOTALS 38-73 12-16 98.

Halftime–UNI 52-27. 3-Point Goals–St. Ambrose 2-25 (Kaczmarek 1-2, Rohr 1-3, Affolter 0-1, Kazanecki 0-1, Friel 0-2, Moeller 0-2, Schols 0-2, Kerr 0-3, Kizer 0-3, Williams 0-6), UNI 10-27 (Berhow 4-6, Betz 2-3, Heise 1-2, Carter 1-4, Born 1-8, Phyfe 0-1, Gauger 0-2). Rebounds–St. Ambrose 32 (Kerr 10), UNI 41 (Heise 9). Assists–St. Ambrose 9 (Friel 3), UNI 16 (Berhow 5). Total Fouls–St. Ambrose 17, UNI 11.