NORMAL, Ill. (AP) _ Walter James ran for 171 yards and three second-half touchdowns Saturday in leading Illinois State to a 47-28 victory over Northern Iowa.

The Redbirds (4-1, 2-0 Gateway Conference) broke a 14-14 halftime tie when Sam Young returned a blocked punt for a score in the third quarter. They never trailed after that.

Northern's Panthers (4-1, 1-1), ranked fifth in the latest I-AA poll to the Redbirds' 10th, got a spotty performance from quarterback Ryan Helming, who was 26-of-60 passing for 323 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted three times and sacked twice.

Helming, who entered the game with a 71 percent completion percentage, had scoring passes of 49 and 11 yards to Jeremy Dusho.

James, who had 25 carries, scored on runs of 26, 2 and 6 yards. Illinois State's Kevin Glenn was 23-of-37 passing for 184 yards and two TDs.

It was the eighth straight Redbirds' home game in which they scored at least 40 points.