Tony Perkins has 23, 7 assists, 6 rebounds as Iowa beats UMBC 103-81

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- — Tony Perkins had 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds, Payton Sandfort scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and grabbed 10 rebounds and Iowa pulled away late in the first half to beat UMBC 103-81 Wednesday night.

Sandfort was 7-of-12 shooting and had six assists. Ben Krikke, who made 8 of 11 from the field, added 17 points and 12 boards, Patrick McCaffery scored 14 points and Brock Harding finished with 10 points, 12 assists and four steals for Iowa (7-5).

Khydarius Smith scored seven points in a 9-2 run as the Hawkeyes went three minutes without a made field goal and UMBC (5-9) led 26-21 with eight minutes left in the first half. After Perkins made two free throws, McCaffery threw down a dunk to end the drought and Iowa scored 27 of the final 37 first-half points to take a 50-36 advantage into halftime. The Retrievers trailed by double figures the rest of the way.

Dion Brown made 5 of 6 from 3-point range and scored 23 points to lead UMBC and Smith finished with 20 points.

UMBC, which has lost four games in a row and five of its last six, shot 46% (32 of 69) from the field and made 13 of 25 (52%) from 3-point range but had a minus-11 turnover margin as Iowa scored 23 points off 15 Retrievers turnovers.

Iowa, which went into the game averaging 10.5 turnovers per game (No. 48 nationally), committed a season-low four.

UMBC plays host to American on Dec. 29. Iowa wraps up a four-game home stand against Northern Illinois on Dec. 29.

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