UNI v. Drexel Showdown- 2nd Round NIT Recap
by Alex Bagshaw Twitter Facebook
The Drexel Dragons had their 2nd round game of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) against the (20-14) Northern Iowa Panthers. This was a home game at the Daskalakis Athletic Center with Samme Givens scoring a game high 28 points and as a huge help in the Dragons win to surpass the Panthers. The UNI Panthers made a heroic comeback in the second half and narrowly missed pulling off a narrow win with a last second 3 point shot giving Drexel the final victory.
The Panthers, who trailed by 18 at one point in the first half, regrouped during the second half and steadily brought the lead to three points with time running on the clock halfway through the final period . Northern Iowa hadn’t led at any point in the game and had spotty shooting from behind the 3 point line in the first half but brought up their shooting percentage as the game progressed. UNI’s Anthony James missed a contested lay-up and the Panthers were forced to foul Damion Lee which led to a 2 point swing in the point margin. Drexel shot well in the second half which was also another reason why the Dragons stayed on top of UNI in scoring with freshman, Damian Lee, and Aquil Younger playing important roles in Drexel’s win.
UNI pushed the ball up the court where Moran was forced to double pump on a three-point attempt from straight on because of the Dragons exceptional shot defense that didn’t force an unintentional foul. Moran’s shot bounced off the rim as Drexel picked up its school-record 29th win. With this win the Dragons advance giving them a home game against UMASS on Tuesday while UNI’s 2012 tourney dreams have come to end. The Dragons (29-6 ) will now host UMass in the NIT Quarterfinals on Tuesday night at the DAC at 7 p.m.
