Dec. 4, 2009
Final Stats
The Peacock men's basketball team travelled to Si Melby Hall on the campus of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minn. this evening for their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener against the Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul. The contest was forced to be played at Augsburg due to Concordia's hosting of the 2009 NCAA Division II Volleyball Championships. After trailing for most of the second half, UIU mounted a charge at the end of the contest and won 64-60.
The Peacocks trailed 7-6 before two quick layups by Keith Steffeck and Tucker Wentzien gave UIU the lead back at 10-7. After CU took back the lead, the Peacocks went on a quick 8-0 run thanks in part to a pair of three point buckets by Mark Lafrenz and a fast break layup by Devin Eighmey to regain the lead, 20-14, with 8:02 remaining before halftime.
After the two teams took turns sharing the lead in the remaining minutes of the first half, the home team took a 33-29 advantage into the locker room for halftime.
Sophomore Keith Steffeck led UIU into the break with eight points while Lafrenz added six. The Peacocks shot 11-for-30 (36.7%) in the first half which included a 5-for-13 (38.5%) clip from beyond the three-point arc. Concordia shot a little bit better, going 13-of-29 from the floor and 4-of-9 from the three-point arc while outrebounded the Peacocks, 20-16.
The first ten minutes of the second half was a very back-and-forth affair with neither team really being able to gain more than a four point lead. This was until Concordia extended their lead to seven with a quick 6-0 run following the ten minute media timeout with three buckets from three different Golden Bears.
Following a Golden Bear layup which extended their lead to seven, the Peacocks stormed right back with a 5-0 run of their own starting with a Steffeck three-pointer and capped off with a layup from Wentzien before CU was forced to call a timeout to regroup.
Following the timeout, Upper Iowa got within a point when Jake Hughes made the second of two free throws. Then, with 2:37 remaining in the contest, Steffeck gave UIU the lead with a three-pointer, 58-56.
After a pair of CU free throws with 46 seconds to go in regulation to get back within two, the Peacocks caught a break and grabbed the offensive rebound from a missed Dan Bestul three-point chance with three seconds left, forcing the Golden Bears to foul Matt Lesan and send him to the line. Lesan calmly sank both free throws to seal the victory, 64-60.
UIU finished the game shooting 22-of-53 (41.5%) from the floor and 9-of-22 (40.9%) from the three-point line. Even though the Peacocks were outrebounded 40-26, they won the turnover battle by forcing 19 CU turnovers to 12 of their own.
Steffeck dropped in 16 points while Wentzien added 12 and grabbed four rebounds.
The victory improves UIU's record to 2-4 on the season and 1-0 in the NSIC while CU falls to 2-3 and 0-1 in league play.
The Peacocks will be back in action tomorrow evening when they invade Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud, Minn. to take on the Huskies of St. Cloud State University. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
