Northern Iowa 83, Illinois State 64

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Forward Seth Tuttle scored a game-high 23 points, including 18 in the first half, to lead No. 13 Northern Iowa past Illinois State 83-64 on Wednesday night for its 12th consecutive Missouri Valley Conference victory.

The Panthers jumped out to an early lead and were up 50-33 at halftime behind 58 percent shooting from the field (18 of 31), including 41 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (7 of 17).

Illinois State (15-10, 7-6 MVC) crept no closer than 13 points in the second half. UNI boosted the margin to 23 points with eight minutes remaining.

Guard Daishon Knight led Illinois State with 16 points.

Tuttle connected two on of his team’s 12 3-pointers and shot 75 percent from the field for the game.

UNI shot 54 percent from the floor and scored a season high in regulation. The Panthers had 93 points in an early season, double-overtime road loss to Virginia Commonwealth.

Guard Deon Mitchell added 12 points for the Panthers, who had 10 players score.

Northern Iowa remains deadlocked with Wichita State atop the MVC rankings. The Panthers (23-2, 12-1) beat the Shockers 70-54 in the first meeting of the season in Cedar Falls on Jan. 31. UNI will look to complete the season sweep of the reigning MVC champ on Feb. 27 in Wichita.

Tuttle scored eight of the first 13 Northern Iowa points, but Illinois State kept pace by nailing two 3-pointers to knot the score at 13 with five minutes gone in the first half.

The Panthers then went on an 11-2 run, with guard Wyatt Lohaus sinking two 3-pointers and guard Paul Jesperson adding one of his own, to force Illinois State coach Dan Muller to call a timeout with 12:33 remaining in the first half.

Jesperson sank two free throws after the Illinois State bench was tagged with a technical foul to stretch the Northern Iowa run to 13-2 and leave the home team ahead 26-15.

After the teams traded 3-pointers, Tuttle sparked a 10-2 Panthers run, culminating with guard Wes Washpun’s 3-pointer to give Northern Iowa a 39-22 lead at the 3:57 mark.

Panthers head coach Ben Jacobson called a timeout with 2:05 remaining and Tuttle responded with another conventional three-point play followed with a jumper to round out his 18 first-half points. Northern Iowa headed to the locker room with a 50-33 lead.

UNI shot 60 percent (18 of 30) from the field in the first half, including 43 percent (7 of 16) from beyond the arc.

NOTES: The Panthers won 15 consecutive games in McLeod Center dating to 2014. … UNI is 12-0 at McLeod Center this season. … Northern Iowa F Nate Buss sank a 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left to lift Panthers over Redbirds in last meeting in Normal, Ill., on Jan. 25.