Northern Iowa 71, Wyoming 54: Reserve Paul Jesperson scored 16 points as the Panthers received a huge boost from their bench in posting a second-round NCAA Tournament victory in Seattle.

Seth Tuttle added 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds for fifth-seeded Northern Iowa (31-3), which set the program’s single-season record for wins and advanced to meet fourth-seeded Louisville in Sunday's round of 32. The Panthers, who also received 13 points from Nate Buss and 10 apiece from Deon Mitchell and Wes Washpun, hit 9-of-18 3-pointers and enjoyed a 29-22 rebounding advantage as their reserves outscored Wyoming’s 41-2.

Larry Nance Jr. had 16 points and seven rebounds to pace the 12th-seeded Cowboys (25-10), the Mountain West tournament champions who were making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002. Charles Hankerson Jr. added 15 points on 5-of-8 3-point shooting and Derek Cooke Jr. had nine points for Wyoming, which had 12 turnovers and was outscored 16-3 at the free-throw line.

Northern Iowa led 35-24 at intermission and scored the first eight points of the second half as part of an 11-1 run to go up 46-25 with 15:20 to go before Nance, who had managed only two free throws in the first 25 minutes, scored 12 in an 18-4 run that cut the deficit to 50-43 with 10:35 left. That was as close as the Cowboys would get as the Panthers answered with a 12-5 run to push their lead to 62-48 with 4:54 to play, and the margin never fell below 12 points from there.

Wyoming hit its first four shots to take an early 9-8 lead, but Jesperson's 3-pointer highlighted a 10-0 run that gave Northern Iowa a lead that it would never relinquish. The Panthers took their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 35-21 with 34 seconds remaining, but Hankerson beat the buzzer with his fourth 3-pointer of the half to pull the Cowboys within 11 at the break.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Northern Iowa improved to 16-3 in road/neutral-site games this season, trailing only Villanova (17) for the most road/neutral victories nationally. … Wyoming finished 4-10 when scoring fewer than 60 points. … Tuttle started his 135th game – every contest in his four-year career at Northern Iowa – to tie Johnny Moran atop the school’s all-time list.