ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands - Northern Iowa was unable to finish off DePaul Friday afternoon at the Paradise Jam as the Demons closed the game with a flurry to pull out a 60-52 men's basketball victory.

The Panthers built leads in both halves, but couldn't sustain their offense against a stingy DePaul defense or come up with key stops.

UNI led, 21-13 with 8 minutes, 17 seconds left in the opening half and was up by 10 points after Kerwin Dunham's 3-point bucket with 4:02 on the clock. The Demons shaved the deficit in half by intermission, trailing 32-27 at the break.

Ali Farokhmanesh, who led UNI with 12 points, hit a 3 to give the Panthers a 37-32 lead 4:27 into the second half and UNI owned a six-point advantage with 10:20 remaining before DePaul took command down the stretch.

"DePaul did a great job defensively in the second half," UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. "They made some changes that made it hard for us to score. We didn't approach the second half any differently; we just couldn't get shots to connect."

UNI shot just 22.6 percent in the second half, including 2-for-12 from 3-point range after making 7 of 11 during the opening 20 minutes.

"The difference in the second half was we just couldn't finish,"

Farokhmanesh said. "We weren't hitting the open shots like we were in the first half."

For the game, the Panthers hit just 17 of 52 shots and only 9 of 16 free throws. UNI big men Adam Koch and Jordan Eglseder were a combined 4 of 17 for 11 points - just two by Eglseder. DePaul also owned a 44-31 rebounding advantage.

DePaul's Jeremiah Kelly led all scorers with 18 points while Mac Koshwal pulled down 19 rebounds.

UNI (1-1) plays East Carolina Saturday at 2:30 p.m. East Carolina lost to No. 10 Tennessee, 105-66, in the opening round.

DEPAUL (2-0) - Stovall 4-10 0-0 9, Wallace 1-10 0-0 2, Koshwal 6-13 0-0 12, Kelly 5-8 5-6 18, Walker 2-11 5-7 9, Bizoukas 1-1 0-0 3, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Stula 2-5 0-0 5, Faber 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-59 10-13 60.

NORTHERN IOWA (1-1) - A.Koch 3-8 3-4 9, Eglseder 1-9 0-0 2, Farokhmanesh 4-10 0-0 12, Ahelegbe 1-4 6-11 9, Moran 0-7 0-0 0, J.Koch 1-2 0-1 2, Dunham 2-5 0-0 6, Sonnen 2-2 0-0 5, O'Rear 1-2 0-0 2, James 2-3 0-0 5. Totals 17-52 9-16 52.

Halftime-N. Iowa 32-27. 3-Point Goals-DePaul 6-12 (Kelly 3-4, Bizoukas 1-1, Stula 1-1, Stovall 1-3, Walker 0-3), N. Iowa 9-23 (Farokhmanesh 4-9, Dunham 2-3, Sonnen 1-1, James 1-2, Ahelegbe 1-2, A.Koch 0-2, Moran 0-4). Fouled Out-Stula, Wallace. Rebounds-DePaul 44 (Koshwal 19), N. Iowa 31 (Eglseder 6). Assists-DePaul 10 (Koshwal 4), N. Iowa 10 (Dunham, J.Koch, A.Koch 2). Total Fouls-DePaul 16, N. Iowa 15. A-NA. g. The Ala