Dec. 1, 2006
The University of Iowa used a strong second-half scoring outburst as the Hawkeyes rallied for a 62-46 victory over the UTPA Broncs in the first round of the Hawkeye Classic in Iowa City, IA, on Friday (Dec. 1).
The Broncs played the Hawkeyes strong in the first half from the opening tip, and used their pressure defense to stifle the Iowa offense. While the University of Iowa might have held the lead throughout the entire game, they had problems pulling away from the Broncs in the first half.
The Hawkeyes held a seven-point advantage over the Broncs at 12-5 with 13:12 remaining in the first half, but UTPA was able to close the gap to two points at 16-14 following a successful jumper by Zach Trader (LaPorte, TX/LaPorte H.S.) at the 9:14 mark.
The Broncs and Hawkeyes played each other tough for the remainder of the first half with UTPA closely the scoring gap to two points on several occasions. A three-pointer off of the hands of Johnathan Chatman (Chicago, IL/Sheridan College) with 30 seconds remaining in the first half helped UTPA close to within four points at 27-23 heading into the locker rooms for intermission.
In the second half, the Hawkeye offense, which struggled in the first half, opened up the frame on a 20-7 run and extended their halftime lead from four points to 17 points at 47-30 with 12:05 remaining in the game.
The Broncs were able to cut the scoring deficit to 10 points at 47-37 with 8:52 remaining in the game after Brian Burrell (Nacogdoches, TX/Paris J.C.) connected on five of UTPA's seven points during that stretch. The Broncs' leading scorer finished with a game-high 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting in the contest to go along with a career-high eight rebounds and four assists.
However - the Hawkeyes were able to shut down the Broncs' offense over the last eight minutes of the game en route to securing a 62-46 home victory on Friday evening.
Justin Johnson finished with 14 points leading the way for the Hawkeyes, including 4-of-6 from behind the three-point arc, while Tyler Smith added 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 30 minutes of action.
The Hawkeyes finished the game shooting 47 percent (23-of-49) from the field while the Broncs only connected on 42 percent (19-of-45) of their attempts, including a season-low 22 percent (4-of-18) from behind the three-point arc.
The Broncs fell to 5-2 on the season and will square-off against LaSalle University on Saturday (Dec. 2) in the consolation game of the Hawkeye Classic with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m.
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