Anthony James scored 22 points and Northern Iowa built a big early lead and never trailed on the way to a 79-62 victory over Providence in the final game of the South Padre Island Invitational on Saturday.

The Panthers (5-1) got 13 points from Jake Koch to win for the fourth straight time.

Vincent Council led all scorers with 28 points for the Friars (4-2), who lost their second straight. LaDontae Henton had 14 points and Gerald Coleman added 13 as Providence had only five players score.

The patient Panthers worked their offense to near perfection in the first half and opened up a 33-18 lead late in the first half.

Meanwhile, the Friars (4-2) struggled on the offensive end. They had only nine points in the first 12 minutes of the game but finished the half on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 33-23 at the break.

But the Friars faced an uphill battle in the second half trying to get the deficit under double digits with little success. Several times the Panthers opened up 15-point bulges and James 3-pointer with 2:45 to play put the game out of reach 76-58.