Northern Iowa Beats Number One North Carolina

The Northern Iowa Panthers basketball program pulled off one of the biggest wins in school history.  They took down the number one North Carolina Tar Heels at home by a score of 71-67.  Of course, this isn't the first time they've shocked the world.  In 2010, the Panthers pulled off perhaps one of the biggest upsets in the Tournament's history.  Everyone picked the number one overall seed Kansas Jayhawks to win it all.  They never game eight seed UNLV or nine seed UNI a chance.  But UNI was under seeded by at least four seed lines, and Ali Farokhmanesh hit an unbelievable three pointer with about thirty seconds left in the game, and UNI won 69-67 to advance to the Sweet 16 where they later lost to Tom Izzo and number five seed Michigan State.
In the Kansas, game the Panthers got up by double-digits early, and held off a late surge by the Jayhawks at the end, this went the complete opposite way.  The Tar Heels got up early, as they held a 41-32 lead at halftime.  So, the Panthers had stayed in it, and you'd think that since the Tar Heels were the number one team in the land, that they'd pull away.  And, it sure did look like the Tar Heels were going to pull away easily.  They got up by sixteen points, and it sure looked like this ballgame was over. But, something clicked for the Panthers and the switched was flipped.  They had an outburst.  They had a 29-8 scoring run where they totally dominated the Tar Heels.  They took their first lead of the game at 63-58, and it was within five points the rest of the game.
With about twenty seconds in the game, the Tar Heels took it out at half court with about twenty seconds left after a Panther foul down three.  They got an offensive rebound after a missed three pointer, but the Heels cross-court pass was picked off by Jeremy Morgan, which pretty much ended the game, and the Panthers made one free throw after being  fouled, and that was it, the Panthers did it.
The Panthers got 21points from Wes Washpun, 19 from Matt Bohannon, whose three pointer gave them the lead for good, 14 points from Paul Jesperson, and got their lead from a Wyatt Lohaus bucket, a big one for the sophomore.
 It was played for former Linn-Mar Lion player Marcus Paige, his homecoming game, a North Carolina tradition in a star's senior season, who could not play because of a broken hand suffered in practice.  His loss showed, as the Tar Heels got flat out dominated in the second half, and forced zero turnovers against the Northern Iowa Panthers in the second half.