DES MOINES, Iowa -- In a back-and-forth game filled with gritty defense, Northern Iowa outlasted the Drake University men's basketball team in overtime and escaped with a 74-69 victory at the Knapp Center on Saturday evening.
 
"It was a great game just like the one in Cedar Falls," head coach Darian DeVries said. "It was an incredible environment and both teams competed hard."
 
Drake rallied in the final 40 seconds of regulation to get to overtime, but the Bulldogs missed their first nine shots of the extra session and the Panthers avenged an overtime loss to the Bulldogs in Cedar Falls on Jan. 22.
 
The loss snapped Drake's four-game winning streak and knocked the Bulldogs out of a first-place tie in the Missouri Valley Conference, dropping them to 17-7 overall and 8-3 in the league. UNI snapped a four-game losing streak to Drake and improved to 13-9 and 9-3.
 
The game between the two state rivals drew the largest crowd of the season to the Knapp Center -- 5,984 -- and many wore blue hard hats in recognition of Garrett Sturtz's blue-collar work ethic. Sturtz responded with his eighth career double-double, scoring 10 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and making three steals.
 
Freshman Tucker DeVries led the Bulldogs with 15 points and snared eight rebounds. D.J. Wilkins scored 13, Roman Penn added 11 and ShanQuan Hemphill had 10 points to go with eight rebounds. Penn also handed out three assists, leaving him one short of Drake's career record. Glenn Martin, who played from 1984-88, holds that record with 384.
 
It's the sixth time this season the Bulldogs had five players score in double figures.
 
The Bulldogs contained UNI's A.J. Green, the Valley's No. 2 scorer, holding him to 7 points on 1-for-9 shooting. But they struggled against Noah Carter, who muscled his way inside for 23 points, making all nine of his free throws. Trae Berhow added 16 points for the Panthers, who grabbed a 66-63 lead in the first minute of overtime and stayed in front the rest of the way.
 
UNI led 72-65 after Carter's dunk off a lob, but the Bulldogs had one last burst. DeVries sank two free throws and Penn drove for a basket -- Drake's only field goal of the overtime -- to cut it to 72-69 with 7.3 seconds left. The Panthers managed to find an opening in Drake's press to inbound the ball to Green -- an 88.8 percent free throw shooter -- had Drake had to foul. Green sank both shots to wrap it up.
 
UNI finished 24-of-26 at the free throw line. Drake was 12-for-17.
 
Drake trailed 63-60 after Carter drew a foul backing in toward the basket and made both free throws with 1:46 remaining. No one scored again until Penn grabbed an offensive rebound and laid the ball in to make it a one-point game with 29 seconds left. Penn then stole the ball and drew a foul, but made only one of his two free throws, tying the game at 63 with 13.7 seconds to go.
 
Green missed a jumper at the other end, Tremell Murphy rebounded for Drake and his half-court heave was off the mark.
 
Wilkins scored eight points in the first 6 1/2 minutes to help Drake build a 14-4 lead and the Bulldogs were up 26-18 after DeVries muscled his way inside and converted a three-point play. UNI answered with an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 28-26 and tied it three times before DeVries banked in a reverse layup for a 36-34 halftime lead.
 
UNI's Nate Heise tied it at 36 with a pair of free throws less than a minute into the second half and it was a seesaw affair from then on. The lead changed hands 13 times before Penn's free throw produced the final tie at the end. During that stretch, Drake never had more than a 4-0 run and UNI never ran off more than five straight points.
 
Drake held UNI to 37.1 percent shooting but found the going tough at the other end against the Panther defense. The Bulldogs went 1-for-10 in the overtime, shot just 37.7 percent overall and finished 5-for-26 from 3-point range.
 
The Bulldogs will get a chance to bounce back on Wednesday night when they host Missouri State at the Knapp Center for a 7 p.m. tip.
 
TEAM NOTES  
•Drake, which had a season-high four game winning streak snapped, fell to 17-7, including an 8-3 record in the Missouri Valley Conference entering a league home game Wednesday with Missouri State.
•This marked Drake's fifth overtime game of the season with the Bulldogs having a three-game winning streak snapped in overtime games. Drake is 3-2 in overtime games this season (1-1 home, 2-0 road, 0-1 neutral).
•Drake had five players score in double figures, marking the sixth time the Bulldogs have had at least five players accomplish that feat in a game this season. It includes games against Clemson and at Illinois State when the Bulldogs had six players score in double figures. 
•The Bulldogs are 12-2 home this season, and 62-10 in the Knapp Center since 2017-18. 
•Drake outrebounded UNI, 38-35, but slipped to 14-2 when outrebounding opponents this season. 
•Drake grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, marking the 15^th time this season, the Bulldogs have reached double-figures in offensive rebounds including the fifth time in the last six games. 
•Drake fell to 11-2 this season when leading at half and 66-8 during the DeVries era.
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
•Tucker DeVries led Drake with 15 points,while D.J. Wilkins collected 13 points.
•Roman Penn scored 11 points, while Garrett Sturtz and ShanQuan Hemphill added 10 apece.
•Wilkins made three three-point baskets, marking the 11^th time he has made three or more treys in a game this season and the 36^th time in his career.
•It marked DeVries' 21^stdouble-figure scoring game of the season, including the ninth straight game. 
•Sturtz led Drake with 10 rebounds, marking his six double-figure rebounding game this season and ninth in his career.
•Hemphill grabbed eight rebounds off the bench, while DeVries also collected eight rebounds.
•Penn dished out three assists to move into No. 2 on the Drake career assists list at 383, surpassing Lonnie Randolph who had 382 from 2001-05. Penn needs one more assist to tie Glenn Martin (1984-88), for No. 1 on the school all-time list at 384.
•Penn and Sturtz each collected a team-high two steals.
 
THE SERIES
•Drake had a four-game winning streak against UNI snapped. 
•The Panthers lead the series against Drake 51-31
•Drake's record against UNI in games played in Des Moines fell to 20-18.