Nov. 15, 2008

Final Stats

The Peacocks men's basketball team opened its season on the road in Springfield, Missouri. Upper Iowa took the court against the Panthers of Drury University, who entered the season as the #18 team in the NABC Top 25 Poll. Drury shot 54.8% from the field in the first half, but Upper Iowa also shot the ball well (51.9%) to keep pace with their hosts. The difference in the first half might have come in the opening five minutes when the Panthers built a 14-7 lead. The teams played fairly even for the remainder of the half and headed to the locker rooms with Drury leading 40-33.

The Peacocks cam out quickly in the second half and cut the Panther lead to just three points, 42-39, after a pair of three pointers from Dylan Diedrich and Matt Lesan. Drury pushed their lead back to nine, 48-39, by scoring the next six points. Drury was able to slowly creep away from Upper Iowa taking their largest lead of the game, 79-60, with just over one minute to play. UIU was able to cut the margin down to fourteen points by the end, but fell to DU 81-67.

For the game, Drury scored 23 points off the Peacock's 21 turnovers, while Upper Iowa was able to notch 10 points off the Panther's 12 turnovers. The other major difference in the game came in the teams' points in the paint. DU came away with 46 inside points, while UIU scored 28 inside the free throw lane.

The Upper Iowa offense was led by four players in double figures. A.J. Adkins led the Peacocks with 16, while Lesan scored 12. Dylan Diedrich netted 11 points and Dan Bestul chipped in 10. Bestul and Adkins led the effort on the boards with 6 and 5 boards, respectively. Bestul also handed out 5 assists.

Upper Iowa's next game on the road in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Peacocks will face the Division-I Panthers of UW-Milwaukee on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7:00 p.m.