Jan. 3, 2010
Box Score
The Upper Iowa Peacock men's basketball team closed out the opening weekend of 2010 by visiting Wachs Arena in Aberdeen, South Dakota to battle the Wolves of Northern State University in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference clash. A combination of hot shooting by the Wolves and costly turnovers by the Peacocks gave NSU the 92-75 conference victory.
The visitors scored the first two points of the game but the Wolves rushed out on a 10-0 run to put UIU down 10-2 with 15:11 to play in the first half. Junior Matt Lesan tried to keep the NSU advantage to a minimum with a pair of three's to cut the deficit back to nine, but the home squad then went on a quick 13-0 run to bury Upper Iowa in a 32-10 hole with just over nine minutes to play before halftime. Northern State kept the pressure on over the remainder of the first half to take a 53-29 lead into the halftime break.
Lesan led the Peacocks with 8 points at the break but NSU shot a mind-boggling 66.7% (21-31) from the field in the first half led by Collin Pryor's 10 points.
The second half was all Northern State as they extended their lead to 31 on four different occasions to seal a 92-75 victory. Lesan led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting which included five three-point buckets. Marion-native Keith Steffeck dropped in 14 points while Mike Lafrenz added 12. Freshman Tucker Wentzien grabbed a team-high five rebounds while chipping in six points.
For the game, Northern State shot a blistering 58.3% (35-60) from the field which included a 43.5% (10-23) clip from beyond the three-point arc. Upper Iowa made 26 of 61 attempts (42.6%) from the field and converted 7 of 20 three-point attempts. The Wolves forced 22 Peacock turnovers which turned into 36 points and outscored UIU in the paint 48-24.
The loss drops UIU's record to 6-7 on the season and 3-3 in NSIC play while NSU improves to 5-9 overall and 1-5 in the league.
After playing their last four contests away from Fayette, Upper Iowa now plays their next four contests at home, however; the schedule doesn't get any easier. On Friday, Jan. 8, UIU hosts the #8 ranked Mavericks of Minnesota State (12-0 overall, 5-0 NSIC) inside Dorman Gym in Fayette. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.
