BLOOMINGTON — The University of Iowa men’s basketball team fell to Indiana, 74-68, on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall. The Hawkeyes drop to 12-9 on the season and 4-6 in Big Ten conference play.

Junior Payton Sandfort tied a career-high 26 points. Sandfort’s offense kept the Hawkeyes in the game in the first half, as he scored 14 of the team’s 28 first half points. In total, the junior from Waukee, Iowa, shot 5-of-12 from downtown and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Sandfort grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Senior Tony Perkins led the second-half comeback scoring 17 points after the break. He finished the game with 22 points. Perkins has scored 20+ points in four consecutive games and is averaging 19.3 points over the past eight games. The duo of Perkins and Sandfort combined to score 48 of Iowa’s 68 points.

Sophomore Josh Dix rounded out the Hawkeyes in double digits with 10 points.

The Hawkeyes struggled to get it going in the first half, shooting 9-of-32 from the field and 4-of-13 from deep. Iowa was able to convert at the free throw line, making all six first half attempts. The Hawkeyes trailed at the break, 39-28.

Once trailing by 17 points, Iowa came back to tie the game at 49 with just over 10 minutes remaining. Sandfort gave Iowa the lead, 66-64, with under two minutes to play. A 3-pointer from Indiana’s Gabe Cupps gave the Hoosiers the lead that they would hold for the rest of the game.

Iowa finished the game shooting 23-of-65 (35%) from the field and 6-of-22 (27%) from three. The Hawkeyes stayed hot at the free throw line, converting on 16-of-19 attempts.