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| Furman freshman guard Abijah Franklin |
Northern Iowa 70, Furman 54 (Nov. 14, 2025)
CEDAR FALLS, IA--Furman connected on just 4-of-30 shots from three-point range and managed just 54 points, as the Paladins fell for the third time against NCAA Division I competition this season, as Northern Iowa evened the all-time series between the two in what was the first meeting between the two teams in 22 years, as the Panthers captured a 70-54 win over the Paladins Friday night at the McCleod Center.
With the win, Northern Iowa improved to 3-0 on the young season, while the Paladins fell to 1-3 on the young season. It’s Furman’s second double-digit setback in three games to start the season, and over last two games, the Paladins are just 15-of-75 from three-point range.
The Panthers would be led in scoring in the contest by Trey Campbell, who finished with 18 points to lead five UNI players in double figures, as the Panthers featured a well-balanced offensive output. Campbell knocked down 6-of-11 shots from the field and was 3-for-6 from three-point range and a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. Additionally, Campbell added three assists and two steals in the win.
Campbell would be joined in double figures by Ben Schwieger, who gave off the bench to add 14 points for the Panthers, while starters Leon Bond III and Tristan Smith added 13 points apiece, and Will Hornseth added 11 points and eight boards to round out the balanced offensive effort from the Panthers.
Furman was led by junior center Cooper Bowser, who posted 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, while adding four rebounds, two blocks and an assist to his overall totals for the night. Charles Johnston added a double-double of 11 points, 10 rebounds and an assist, while shooting 3-of-7 from three-point range. The rest of the team shot just 1-of-23 from long-range in the game.
True freshman point guard Alex Wilkins also finished in double figures, finishing with 10 points and four assists, as he connected on 4-of-14 shots from the field, but was 0-of-9 from three-point land.
For the game, the Panthers ended the night connecting on 46.3% (25-of-54) from the field but were just 30.0% (6-of-20) from long-range themselves. UNI did knock down 14-of-17 attempts from the charity stripe, which converted to an 82.4% clip from the charity stripe.
The Paladins finished the night connecting on just 39.3% (22-of-56) from the field and just 13.3% (4-of-30) from three-point range and were 6-of-11 from the free throw line. Furman owned advantages in points in the paint (34-30) and second-chance points (6-5), while UNI held advantages in points from turnovers (13-11), fast-break points (5-2), bench points (15-9), total rebounds (35-33), and total assists (11-10).
How It Happened:
Furman and Northern Iowa played it close to the vest early in the game, with each team struggling shooting-wise early on, and Furman jumped out to an early 8-5 lead following a pair of Cooper Bowser buckets, however, the Panthers responded with a 15-4 run to take a 20-12 lead following a nice mid-range jumper from Leon Bond III to force a Furman timeout at the 9:09 mark of the opening half.
Furman would battle back and after missing its first 10 threes of the game, finally broke the ice from long range when Charles Johnston knocked down a three in transition following a Ben Vander Wal steal, cutting the UNI lead back to five. However, back-to-back jumpers and a free throw gave the Panther a brief double-digit lead before a pair of Furman buckets by Bowser and Alex Wilkins to get the deficit back to six. However, the Panthers would take a 27-19 lead to final media timeout of the half following short jumper All-Missouri Valley Conference guard Trey Campbell.
Off the timeout, a Ben Schweiger three with the shot clock winding down was followed by a Tristan Smith hook shot in the paint extending the Panthers to their largest lead of the night, at 32-19 with just under three minutes remaining in the half. A little over a minute later, Smith’s layup extended the lead to 15 before a Charles Johnston three cut it back to 12 and that’s where the score would remain at the half, as the Panthers took a 36-24 lead into the half. Furman finished the opening half of play connecting on just 2-of-17 from three-point range in the opening half of play.
The second half would begin with a technical foul, as Furman was issued a technical foul as a result of Eddrin Bronson not being written in the official stats manual before the start of the game. That would lead to a free throw for the Panthers without any time elapsing off the clock, and increasing the Panthers lead to 13, at 37-24.
Trailing by 15 in the early portions of the second half, the Paladins would trim the Panthers lead to 10, at 45-35, following a layup by Bronson at the 11:16 mark of the second stanza. However, UNI produced its most decisive run of the night following Bronson's layup, utilizing a 10-0 run, which began with a Ben Schwieger three-pointer with the shot clock winding down and ended with an alley-oop slam from Tristan Smith off a feed from RJ Taylor, as the UNI lead ballooned to 20, at 55-35, with 8:36 remaining.
Furman could get no closer than 15 points for the remainder of the night, watching as UNI's lead would increase to as much as 23 points, at 63-40, with 4:01 left after Campbell knocked down a baby jumper in the lane.
The Paladins return to action next Wednesday night, Nov. 19, hosting Ohio Christian with tip-off for that contest slated for 7 p.m. EST at Timmons Arena.
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