University of Northern Iowa junior forward Nate Buss knew by Thursdays practice he would be starting for the first time in a collegiate basketball game. Most people would have sent a text or placed a call to mom and dad about the accomplishment, but Buss only told his fianc?e of his new starting gig.
I really didnt want to make too big of a deal about it. My dad was a little bit angry at me, Buss said while flashing quotations regarding his dads anger, but I wanted it to be a surprise.
The junior outperformed any expectations his coaches, teammates, parents or fans could have had for his first career start. He scored a career-high 26 points on 10-13 shooting from the floor against Missouri State University. Despite recording four fouls, Buss was able to play through the final eight minutes of the game.
Nate has played good in the last five or six games, but not as good as he had played for a six or seven game stretch there, said UNI head coach Ben Jacobson. In an effort to get him going a little bit again and hope that maybe he could provide even more offense than what hes done these last few games, (we started him).
The Panthers held a 13-point advantage in the first half with just under four minutes remaining when sophomore guard Matt Bohannon hit one of his three 3-pointers. However, the Bears cut the UNI lead to three points with a 10-0 run to close the half.
After the half, Buss and Bohannon were back at it. Each made 3-pointers in the opening minute of the second half and boosted the Panthers lead to nine points.
Missouri State kept climbing back into the game each time the Panthers attempted to put them away. This time, the Bears came back and took their first lead of the game at 61-59 on a 3-pointer from Gavin Thurman.
After gaining and holding on to a two-point lead, the Panthers used a 12-2 run to extend their lead to 12 points with just under four minutes remaining in the game.
The Bears still refused to go away and cut the Panther lead to two points at 88-86 after a fading 3-pointer from Austin Ruder with just 22 seconds left.
When the Bears head coach Paul Lusk chose to start fouling, it was Seth Tuttle who sank four free throws and Wes Washpun who drained a pair of free throws in the final moments to give the Panthers the 94-89 win.
For us to go another step we need Nate and a couple other guys to be able to improve defensively, Jacobson said. Rotations, rebounding so we can count on it every possession.
With Nate and Seth in together, obviously either one of them can post. Now weve got an opportunity to throw it down there to Nate. And depending on who were playing against, that could be a good matchup for us.
The Panthers return to action 3 p.m. Saturday when they face Loyola University Chicago.
