RUNOUTS

Score: Siena 81, UNI 75

Leaders of the pack: Jordan Eglseder had a team-high 16 points and 14 rebounds for UNI, while Kwadzo Ahelegbe finished with 13 points.

Off the bench: Lucas O'Rear tallied eight second-half points and seven caroms in 18 minutes. Travis Brown buried three 3-pointers.

Game-changer: Siena scored 17 of the game's first 21 points as UNI shot just 22.7 percent in the first half.

Next up: UNI (18-10, 12-4) travels to Illinois State for a 7:05 p.m. tip Tuesday.

ALBANY, N.Y. - The University of Northern Iowa basketball team traveled more than 1,100 miles Saturday hoping to regain its January form.

The Panthers found it, but it came way too late.

Siena overwhelmed UNI on both ends of the floor in the opening half to register an 81-75 BracketBuster series win at the Times Union Center.

Despite a valiant second-half offensive showing that featured a season-high 56 points, UNI fell behind by 21 points in the first half and lost for the fourth time in five outings.

"The second half shows if we play a full 40 minutes, we're a good team," guard Ali Farokhmanesh said. "If we don't, like today, we're a bad team, too.

"It's frustrating when we play that bad in the first half."

For much of the past two weeks, slow starts and a lack of consistency have been an issue.

"We're struggling to get a full 40 minutes," forward Adam Koch said. "Our offense has been too slow to start."

UNI (18-10) converted only five first-half field goals and shot a meager 22.7 percent. The Panthers continued to labor from the 3-point line, missing nine of 10 attempts in the first 20 minutes.

In addition to its shooting woes, UNI failed to get great looks inside against an athletic Siena squad.

"The shots weren't falling, but we came out a little timid," said center Jordan Eglseder, who had a team-high 16 points and season-high 14 rebounds.

"Offensively, we've got to play a little looser," point guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe said. "The first half, we kind of looked around at each other and were like, 'Who should we pass it to?' We were a little stagnant."

Siena, meanwhile, capitalized. Led by four 3-pointers from reserve Clarence Jackson and several transition baskets off UNI turnovers, the Saints bolted to a 29-10 cushion.

"Against a team like this, you've got to be clicking on all cylinders from the get-go," UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. "If you make mistakes, they're going to take advantage of it."

Kenny Hasbrouck had 16 points to lead four players in double figures for Siena (22-6), which has won 18 straight at home and 12 of its last 13.

The Saints clinched the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last week and played the top non-conference schedule in the country.

"That's a team that should be in the NCAA Tournament," Jacobson said. "They have the firepower that they need and are extremely well-coached."

Just like a week ago at Wichita State, when UNI trailed by 17 at intermission, the Panthers stormed back in the closing half.

UNI scored 37 points in the game's first 29 minutes. The Panthers closed with 38 in the last 11 minutes, including 17 in the final 82 seconds.

"(UNI) is a team that doesn't lose its composure," Siena coach Fran McCaffery said. "That's why I thought it was important to play defense the way we did in the first half. You knew they were going to make a run.

"All year they've been resilient and come back."

This deficit was too much. Jacobson's team never got the margin under double figures until 1:11 remained in the game.

Still, for a team that's missed 80 of its last 107 3-point shots, seeing a few shots go in at the end could do wonders for its confidence going into Tuesday's pivotal conference game at Illinois State.

"I hope so," Jacobson said. "We've played our best when our offense has been loose and been free. My hope is that second half will show up again on Tuesday."

Ahelegbe finished with 13 points and Koch had 11 for the Panthers, who shot 51 percent in the second half.

"We've got to forget about this," Ahelegbe said. "We can't have it on our mind long, because we've got a game in a couple of days and that team doesn't care how we're playing."

SHORT SHOTS: Despite being in the hospital Thursday and early Friday because of a staph infection in his left thigh, Farokhmanesh played 32 minutes Saturday. After a scoreless first half, he made three second-half 3s. … Eglseder, in double figures for the sixth time in the last seven games, had his fifth double-double of the year. … Saturday marked the third time in the last five games an opponent has shot better than 47 percent against UNI. During its 11-game win streak, no opponent reached that mark.

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

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

Koch 28 2-6 7-8 4 2 5 11

Eglseder 26 7-11 2-3 14 0 3 16

Farokhmanesh 32 3-11 0-0 2 3 2 9

Moran 25 3-9 0-0 1 2 1 7

Ahelegbe 33 2-7 9-10 4 2 5 13

Brown 23 3-6 0-0 1 0 3 9

Dunham 14 1-4 0-0 0 1 2 2

O'Rear 18 2-3 4-4 7 1 1 8

Rodenberg 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Team 3

Totals 200 23-57 22-25 36 11 22 75

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

Rossiter 27 3-4 5-6 6 0 3 11

Franklin 23 4-6 1-4 4 0 4 9

Ubiles 38 4-13 2-4 7 4 2 10

Moore 29 3-8 2-2 5 0 4 8

Hasbrouck 33 6-12 2-2 3 3 3 16

Downey 6 1-2 2-2 0 0 0 5

Duell 21 3-5 2-2 1 5 2 8

Jackson 17 5-8 0-0 1 0 0 14

Wignot 6 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 0

Harms 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Team 4

Totals 200 29-59 16-22 31 18 18 81

Northern Iowa 19 56 - 75

Siena 40 41 - 81

3-point goals - UNI 7-25 (Farokhmanesh 3-10, Brown 3-6, Moran 1-6, Dunham 0-1, O'Rear 0-1, Eglseder 0-1); Siena 7-19 (Jackson 4-7, Hasbrouck 2-3, Downey 1-2, Moore 0-3, Ubiles 0-2, Wignot 0-1). Turnovers - UNI 10 (Koch 3, Ahelegbe 3); Siena 8 (Franklin 3, Hasbrouck 2). Steals - UNI 4 (Moran 2); Siena 4 (Rossiter 3). Blocks - UNI 2 (Eglseder, O'Rear); Siena 3 (Rossiter 3).

Officials - Daily, George, Hampton. Att - 8,065.