Nov. 17, 2007
Box Score
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - The Missouri Western Griffons improved to 28-3 all-time in the Hillyard Tip-Off Classic with a 76-69 victory over the Upper Iowa Peacocks. Reggie Bunch paced the Griffons with 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, while snaring 9 rebounds. The Griffons are now 1-0 on the season and the Peacocks are 0-1 with the defeat.
In the first half the Griffons jumped out to an early 10-3 lead with 15:01 left in the first half. The Peacocks would battle back as they went on an 11-4 run to cut the Griffons lead to 18-17 with 8:07 left on the clock. The two teams played the rest of the half even as the Griffons took a 31-30 lead into the locker room.
In the first half the Griffons were led by Guss Moss and Reggie Bunch as each netted 9 points apiece. The Peacocks were led by Matt Lesan and Jude Roybal as each tallied 8 points in the half. The Griffons shot 48.1% (13-of-27) in the half while the Peacocks shot 42.6% (11-of-26).
The Griffons opened the second half with 16-6 run to push their lead to eleven with 16:09 to play. Just like the first half, the Peacocks battled back using a 16-2 run to and took a 52-49 lead 52-49 with just under ten minutes to go. The Griffons rallied and tied the game at 61-61 before running away from the Peacocks thanks to a 15-8 run to close out the game. Missouri Western claimed the victory over Upper Iowa 76-69. This marked the first ever meeting between the two schools.
The Griffons had three other players in double figures on the night as Lonnnel Johnson had 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting with 6 assists. Gus Moss had 15 points and Ken Goodwin added 14 for Missouri Western. Keon Kindred passed the way on the boards for the Griffs as he had 12 rebounds on the night.
The Peacocks also had four players in double figures as Matt Lesan and Jude Roybal paced the way both scoring 13 points apiece. Neil Gross and Marcus Uhlenhopp added 11 and 10 respectively, while Dan Bestul led the way on the boards with 5 rebounds.
The Griffons shot 47.3% (26-of-55) on the night and 36.8% (7-of-19) from long range, while the Peacocks shot 45.3% (24-of-53) from the field and 44.4 % (12-of-27) from behind the arc. Both teams struggled from the free throw line as the Peacocks shot 69.2 % (9-of-13), while the Griffons shot 63.0% (17-of-27).
The Griffons out rebounded Upper Iowa by nine, 37 to 28, and the home team had only 14 turnovers to the visitor's 16.
The Peacocks will play round two of the Hillyard Tip-Off Classic on Saturday, November 17th when they take on Washburn at 5:30 pm in the MWSU Fieldhouse. The Ichabods defeated Lincoln University 102-70 in their first round match up.
Contact: Trevor Berneking, SID, Missouri Western State University
