Feb. 6, 2009

Final Stats

The Upper Iowa men's basketball team took the floor tonight looking to pick up their fourth NSIC win of the season against the Marauders of the University of Mary on Friday night. One of the Peacocks three conference wins came against U-Mary in Fayette earlier in the season. UIU's offense struggled to get started and did not put a point on the board until the first half clock moved under thirteen minutes. Upper Iowa battled back in the first half and took their first lead of the game with three seconds to play in the half, but it was short lived as U-Mary went to the locker room with a two-point lead after a half court shot went down at the buzzer. The two teams exchanged the lead back and forth in the second half. The game was tied on four occasions and neither team ever got ahead by more than six points in the second half. After tying the game with three and a half minutes to play, UIU came up short as they only managed two points over the remainder of the game. U-Mary picked up the NSIC victory 61-57 and moved a game ahead of Upper Iowa in the conference standings. UIU is now 4-17 overall and 3-11 in the NSIC, while the Marauders improve to 6-15 overall and 4-10 in conference play.

U-Mary took an early 9-0 lead through the first eight and a half minutes, but the Peacocks rallied back to take a one-point lead with three seconds to play. Upper Iowa outscored the Marauders 25-18 after the rough start. The Peacocks' Nick Kramer gave UIU their first lead of the game, 25-24, with three seconds to play, but the Marauders staked their claim to the lead with a halfcourt shot at the buzzer by Geoff West. The home team took a 27-25 lead into the break. Upper Iowa was led by Kramer's 10 points and Matt Lesan's 8 points in the first half.

The Peacocks opened the second half on a 10-3 run to take their largest lead of the game, 35-30. The run was fueled by four layups, including a pair from Nick Kramer, and a jumper. After UIU took the lead, the teams played evenly until the game clock moved under 10 minutes. As the second half reached its midway point, U-Mary moved out to a small lead, 46-41. With 5:27 to play, the home team pushed their lead to six, 53-47. Upper Iowa stormed back with an 8-2 run to tie the game at 55-55 with 3:30 on the clock. The Peacocks were unable to close the deal over the final few minutes and lost the game 61-57.

Upper Iowa got most of their scoring from three young men. Nick Kramer finished with a game-high 22 points, while Lesan dropped 12 and Alex Kramer scored 9 points. The Upper Iowa posts cleaned the glass as Chris Sullivan pulled down 11 boards and Nick Kramer snagged 8 caroms.

Upper Iowa will return to the court tomorrow night in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The Peacocks will face the Wolves of Northern State at approximately 8 p.m.