Nov. 21, 2004

Box Score

Cedar Falls, Iowa - Junior Erik Crawford (Oakdale, Minn.) led all players with 20 points, and three other Panthers reached double-figures in scoring, as the University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team posted an 84-66 win over Wayne State in its season opener.

The 6-3 Crawford hit 8-fo-12 shots from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line, scoring 10 points in each half. He also had five rebounds, two assists, a blocked shot and a steal.

Redshirt freshman Atila Santos (Salvador, Brazil) scored 14 points in 16 minutes of action in his UNI debut. The 6-10 Santos hit 6-of-8 shots from the floor. Junior Ben Jacobson (Sioux City, Iowa) scored 12 points, and sophomore forward Grant Stout (New Sharon, Iowa) added 10 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double.

The game was even for the first 10 minutes of the game, before a 15-6 UNI run opened up a 31-24 Panthers edge with 4:24 left in the opening half. Crawford had six points and Santos four during that run. The Wildcats pulled within four, 33-29, before a 6-1 UNI spurt to end the half gave the Panthers a 39-30 lead heading into the locker room.

WSC got as close as six (45-39) with 16:07 left in the game on a Dallas Hodges jumper, before the Panthers broke it open. UNI went on a 26-11 run over the next 10 minutes to extend its lead to 71-50 and cruise home from there. The Panthers shot a sizzling 75 percent (18-for-24) from the field in the second half.

John Little (Peoria, Ill.) gave UNI a boost off the bench with seven points, four rebounds and two steals, while Pete Schmit (St. Charles, Ill.) contributed six and freshman Vince Polakovic (Bratislava, Slovakia) added five. All 13 UNI players saw the floor and 11 of them scored.

Brett Watson led Wayne State (0-2) with 15 points, while Todd Klostermann had 12 points and a team-high six rebounds.

UNI's next game will be this Wednesday night (Nov. 24), when the Panthers travel to face the University of Cincinnati. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. central.