CEDAR FALLS -- Johnny Moran is only three games into his basketball career at the University of Northern Iowa, but he's already shown a knack for "the moment."

In that respect, he's similar to another Panther who lived for clutch situations -- Ben Jacobson.

"Their games are very different, and I won't compare the two," head coach Ben Jacobson said, "but they both love to play, they both love to compete.

"Johnny will have a different career than Benny."

So far, Moran's is off to a sizzling start.

After a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) in his debut against Denver, Moran buried six 3-pointers -- including three in a 2 1/2 minute stretch of the second half Sunday evening -- to help the Panthers hold off Texas Southern, 74-67, in the opening game of the Chicago Invitational Challenge at the McLeod Center.

The 6-foot-1 guard was 7-for-11 from the field and finished with a career-high 21 points.

Each time the Tigers (0-3) tried to make a push in the second half, Moran had an answer.

Moran's last 3-pointer, on which he was fouled, resulted in a four-point play and gave UNI (2-1) a 63-50 cushion with less than three minutes left.

"He's a really nice freshman," Texas Southern coach Tony Harvey said. "He had a big presence on the game.

… That last 3 he made was a dagger."

When UNI recruited Moran, Jacobson was impressed with his willingness to have the ball in his hands late in the game.

"He wants the basketball," Jacobson said, "and the best part is, it doesn't matter to him if he's making the 3s like he did tonight or if he's making a play for someone else.

"He loves to compete, and he plays to win."

Once again, several of his attempts came late in the 35-second shot clock. Once again, he made them.

"I don't mind it," Moran said. "Whoever gets it at that time has to take the shot, so you don't feel any added pressure. You're the one that has to shoot it."

Jacobson, while pleased with Moran's progress, tried to temper the enthusiasm.

"He's three games in, and he's going to have some games where he's really good like he was tonight and some games where maybe it doesn't go his way," Jacobson said. "But with the way he loves to compete, he's going to have more nights than not that will go his way."

In addition to Moran, Adam Koch had a season-high 18 points and Kwadzo Ahelegbe poured in a career-high 11 for the Panthers. It was needed as center Jordan Eglseder battled early foul trouble and finished with six points, and sharpshooter Ali Farokhmanesh was limited to three on 1-for-6 shooting.

"We've made some improvements," Koch said. "As coach talks about, every day is a chance to get better. We need to take advantage of those opportunities, and we've done a good job of that so far."

Jacobson was most pleased with the effort on defense.

After allowing 84 points, including 53 in the second half on Wednesday in a loss at Illinois-Chicago, UNI stymied Texas Southern on 23 first-half points.

"I was pleased with our energy, our enthusiasm at the defensive end," Jacobson said. "I liked how active we were defensively.

"This was our best overall performance. In the three games that we've played, we played well for a longer period today than the previous two."

Matthew Miller kept the Tigers within arm's reach by tallying 28 points -- 23 in the second half. Miller tied an arena record with seven trifectas -- four in the final 64 seconds.

"Matt is the pulse for us right now," said Harvey, whose club doesn't play a home game until Dec. 27.

UNI, meanwhile, used a 14-2 run early in the first half to take the lead for good. Texas Southern, an athletic squad, used a 2-3 zone defense against the Panthers.

"If I could put it in reverse a little bit, I probably would have stayed a little bit more man," Harvey said. "I noticed they hadn't been shooting the ball as well from the 3-point line.

"Tonight, they made shots."

SHORT SHOTS: Jacobson said freshman Austin Pehl will redshirt this season unless an injury to a frontcourt player happens in the near future. Meanwhile, a final decision hasn't been made on freshman Anthony James. … Panther sophomore Lucas O'Rear, suspended for the first three games for fourth-degree theft, will return to action Tuesday when UNI hosts Chicago State at 8:05 p.m.

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

Texas South. Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Jones 29 4-6 0-2 2 3 5 8

Boyles 27 3-4 0-2 9 0 5 6

Drewy 36 1-4 0-0 5 1 2 2

Hall 38 4-12 1-2 4 1 3 9

Miller 36 9-10 3-6 1 8 4 28

Henderson 1 2-2 0-0 1 0 1 4

Burrell 5 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Norwood 25 3-6 1-2 3 1 2 10

Price 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Team 1

Totals 200 26-45 5-14 26 14 22 67

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

Koch 32 6-12 6-9 3 1 0 18

Farokhmanesh 27 1-6 0-1 1 1 3 3

Ahelegbe 33 2-8 6-7 5 5 1 11

Moran 28 7-11 1-3 5 2 4 21

Dunham 32 2-5 0-0 3 2 5 4

Haak 12 0-0 6-6 0 0 0 6

Montgomery 3 1-2 0-0 1 0 0 2

Brown 19 1-3 0-0 5 1 2 3

Eglseder 14 3-5 0-0 4 1 3 6

Team 3

Totals 200 23-52 19-26 30 13 18 74

Texas Southern 23 44 ï½ 67

Northern Iowa 33 41 ï½ 74

3-point goals ï½ Texas Southern 10-16 (Miller 7-8, Norwood 3-6, Hall 0-2); UNI 9-23 (Moran 6-8, Farokhmanesh 1-6, Ahelegbe 1-3, Brown 1-2, Dunham 0-2, Koch 0-1, Montgomery 0-1). Turnovers ï½ Texas Southern 11 (Miller 5); UNI 8 (Koch 2, Moran 2, Eglseder 2). Steals ï½ Texas Southern 4 (Miller 2); UNI 5 (Moran 2). Blocks ï½ Texas Southern 3 (Jones 2); UNI 1 (Eglseder).

Officials ï½ Mike Nance, Jerrald Drummon, Jose Carrion. Att. ï½ 3,142.