CEDAR FALLS - With each additional victory, the University of Northern Iowa basketball team's season of surprises takes a new form.

In two weeks, the Panthers have gone from a squad lacking toughness and consistency to the top rung of the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

Thanks to a school-record 81.8 percent shooting in the opening half Saturday night, UNI racked up its fourth consecutive victory with a 78-64 win over Missouri State at the McLeod Center in front of 4,063 fans.

Coupled with Bradley's loss at home to Creighton and Evansville's setback at Southern Illinois, UNI owns a share of first place with the Braves. Drake can join those two with a win over Wichita State tonight.

Since losing to Indiana State at home in the Valley opener Dec. 28, UNI (10-6, 4-1 MVC) won at Southern Illinois for the first time in 12 seasons and earned its first victory at Creighton since 1996.

"We took the hard road to get here," UNI guard Ali Farokhmanesh said, "but we still expected to go out and win every game. We expected to be towards the top, but at the same time we took the hardest way possible to get to 4-1."

Head coach Ben Jacobson downplayed it as the race isn't even a third of the way complete.

"The Panthers won, and the Panthers played pretty well," he said. "I'm pleased about that. We've played pretty hard for 2 1/2 weeks. That needs to continue."

The Panthers registered another milestone Saturday. UNI made 18 of 22 shots in the opening half - the fourth-best percentage for a half by any Valley team in the league's 102-year history.

"That's pretty crazy," said Panther forward Adam Koch, who finished with a career-high 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

UNI converted 31 of 44 attempts for the game. The 70.5 percent effort was the second best mark in school history, only trailing the 73.2 UNI shot against Cleveland State in March 1986.

The Panthers, who outscored the Bears 38-20 in the paint, excelled in their half-court offense. UNI attempted only four 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.

Center Jordan Eglseder, who had just 14 points in the previous four games and was nursing an ankle injury, made all six of his shots in the opening half and finished with 16 points.

Koch, Kwadzo Ahelegbe and Kerwin Dunham each were a perfect 3-for-3 from the field in the first stanza.

"You're kind of aware everything is going in, but (81.8) percent you don't see happen very often at all," Farokhmanesh said. "We executed our offense and executed our game plan really well."

Execution aside, the Panthers received a fortituous bounces on two 3-point attempts.

"We made more shots than you're usually going to make," Jacobson said.

MSU (7-9, 0-5) came into the game first in the Valley in scoring defense at 59.9 points per game.

"Northern Iowa did a great job of executing its offense," said first-year MSU coach Cuonzo Martin, whose club allowed a season-high point total. "They got good looks, and I thought we were very passive - especially in the first half putting pressure on the ball and pressure on the pass. They just picked us apart."

Despite UNI's lofty percentage, MSU hung tough with just nine players dressed due to injuries to Cardell McFarland and point guard Spencer Laurie.

After trailing 41-27 at half, the Bears made their first six shots to start the second half and trimmed the margin to 47-40.

"When you shoot 82 percent in a half, you don't expect it to be a seven-point game five minutes into the second half," Jacobson said. "I give them a lot of credit for the way they played because we made a lot of shots."

The Bears wouldn't get any closer.

UNI, which entered the bonus with more than 11 minutes left, turned a 11-point cushion with 5 minutes remaining into a 21-point advantage after Johnny Moran and Farokhmanesh each buried trifectas.

The Panthers, who had five players averaging double figures going into the night, finished with four. In addition to Koch and Eglseder, Farokhmanesh had 13 points and Ahelegbe netted 10.

"Even when we're struggling, there wasn't any selfishness, very unselfish on the offensive end of the floor," Jacobson said. "And now with some guys on a roll, they haven't demanded the ball or looked to take bad shots for our team.

"They've continued to be unselfish, and that's a very good sign for our team."

SHORT SHOTS: Koch's double-double was his third of the season and the fourth of his career. … Moran, who had three more steals Saturday, has compiled nine in Valley play after having seven in all of the non-conference. … With its 70.5 percent shooting Saturday, UNI is shooting a league-best 53 percent in conference play.

Contact Matt Coss at (319) 291-1468 or matt.coss@wcfcourier.com

MSU Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Knapp 25 6-10 0-2 2 1 4 12

Weems 25 2-12 2-3 2 2 2 6

Creekmore 19 1-3 4-4 4 1 1 7

Fuehrmeyer 38 2-4 3-4 0 1 1 7

Sh. Laurie 29 3-5 0-0 3 5 2 9

Cooks 29 5-11 4-5 6 2 3 16

Jehle 21 2-5 1-2 1 0 1 5

Rhine 14 0-3 2-2 7 0 0 2

Team 2

Totals 200 21-53 16-22 27 12 14 64

N. Iowa Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Koch 31 7-8 7-10 11 4 1 22

Eglseder 22 7-8 2-4 3 0 2 16

Farokhmanesh 32 5-7 0-0 0 3 2 13

Ahelegbe 23 5-8 0-0 1 4 4 10

Moran 33 2-5 1-2 2 5 2 6

Haak 11 0-0 0-0 1 1 1 0

Brown 8 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0

Dunham 13 3-3 0-1 1 0 2 7

O'Rear 18 2-3 0-0 5 0 3 4

Rodenberg 9 0-2 0-0 2 0 0 0

Team 0

Totals 200 31-44 10-17 26 17 19 78

Missouri State 27 37 - 64

Northern Iowa 41 37 - 78

3-point goals - MSU 6-21 (Laurie 3-5, Cooks 2-5, Creekmore 1-2, Weems 0-6, Jehle 0-2, Fuehrmeyer 0-1); UNI 6-12 (Farokhmanesh 3-5, Moran 1-2, Koch 1-2, Dunham 1-1, Eglseder 0-1, O'Rear 0-1). Turnovers - MSU 7 (Knapp 2, Creekmore 2); UNI 7 (Ahelegbe 2). Steals - MSU 4 (Cooks 2); UNI 4 (Moran 3). Blocks - MSU 1 (Creekmore); UNI 1 (Eglseder).

Officials - McCall, Moore, Casey. Att. - 4,063.