No. 22 Northern Iowa 63, Bradley 52: Seth Tuttle tallied 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists as the visiting Panthers held off the charging Braves for their fourth straight victory.

Nate Buss collected 11 points and seven rebounds for Northern Iowa (15-2, 4-1 Missouri Valley), which held Bradley to 29.4 percent shooting. Paul Jesperson added nine points and Deon Mitchell scored all eight of his points in the first half for the Panthers.

Auston Barnes scored 14 points and Warren Jones added 10 off the bench for Bradley (6-12, 1-4), which trimmed a 23-point deficit to six before running out of steam. Josh Cunningham grabbed 11 rebounds to go with nine points for the Braves.

The Panthers trailed only once, at 3-2, before Mitchell hit a 3-pointer and Tuttle converted a three-point play to set off a 26-4 run that made it a 22-point game with less than eight minutes left in the half. Barnes scored five straight points, including a 3-pointer just before the buzzer, to pull the Braves within 35-18 at the break.

Bradley opened the second-half scoring with a 3-pointer from Ka'Darryl Bell to cut it to 14, but Northern Iowa responded with a quick 10-1 spurt capped by back-to-back Jesperson 3-pointers to extend the lead to 45-22. The Braves roared back behind hot shooting from the foul line and the 3-point arc and pulled within 56-50 on a Barnes 3-pointer with 1:18 left, but it didn't get any closer and Northern Iowa closed it out at the line.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Northern Iowa has allowed fewer than 20 points in a half six times this season. … The Panthers are off to their best start in Missouri Valley play since going 6-0 in 2009-10. … Tuttle went 9-for-9 from the foul line, where Northern Iowa finished 18-of-22.