NORMAL, Ill. – Seth Tuttle and James Anthony scored 19 points each as Northern Iowa defeated Illinois State 70-60 on Saturday night.
Marc Sonnen added 16 points for the Panthers (8-7, 1-2 Missouri Valley), who have won seven of their last 10 games at ISU.
Jackie Carmichael had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Tyler Brown added 12 points for the Redbirds (9-6, 0-3), who came in with the conference's top offense (79.9 points per game) but shot just 2 of 18 (11.1 percent) from 3-point range.
Northern Iowa never trailed after Matt Bohannon's 3-pointer gave it a 10-9 edge with 11:53 left in the first half. Illinois State got within 55-52 with 3:32 to play, but the Panthers went 12 for 14 from the free-throw line down the stretch to protect the lead.
Tuttle had seven rebounds.