Jan. 9, 2010

Box Score

The Peacock men's basketball team played host to the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State in Dorman on Saturday night. The meeting marked the only time that the two teams will meet during the regular season. Last year, SMSU took both meetings with UIU on their way to the Northern Sun Conference title.

The Mustang defense came out strong and held the Peacocks to just six points in the opening eleven minutes. The UIU defense also played well and allowed the home team to stay in the game as their guests only scored 16 during that stretch. Keith Steffeck knocked down a corner trifecta to end the drought and cut the deficit to seven points, 16-9, with 8:25 to play in the first half.

Upper Iowa cut the gap to five points, 18-13, following an Alex Kramer lay in with four and a half minutes to play. The Peacocks got within three points two possessions later as Dan Bestul got loose in the paint. Bestul then added a free throw to pull the home team within two, 18-16. DeAnthony Zanders ended a five-minute scoreless drought with a three-pointer to extend the lead back to five as the clock moved under three minutes to play. SMSU outscored UIU 5-2 over the final minutes to claim a 23-18 advantage heading into the break.

SMSU was led by Zanders' 7 points and Jordan Miller's 6 points; the pair combined for three trifectas. UIU was led by Steffeck's 5 points; Mike Lafrenz and Tucker Wentzien each added 4. Wentzien added 5 rebounds for the Peacocks.

Each team scored seventeen points over the first ten minutes of the half to maintain the margin at five points in favor of the Mustangs, 40-35. Following the media timeout, the Mustangs drew first blood with a three-pointer by Kevin Andrews, but the Peacocks were quick to answer with a Matt Lesan jumper to stay within six, 43-37.

The teams exchanged a pair of free throws, before Scott Roehl put back a rebound to push the lead to eight, 47-39. After nearly turning the ball over, the Mustangs were bailed out by Andrews' third three-pointer of the game to push the margin into double figures, 50-40, with four and a half minutes on the clock. Upper Iowa rallied with three points at the line to cut the gap to seven with 3:52 to play.

The two teams went cold for two minutes while the margin remained at seven. SMSU made 9 of their 10 free throw attempts over the final 1:35 to claim the victory, 59-47. Andrew Peschong was steady at the charity stripe for the Mustangs hitting seven of his eight attempts.

The visitors were led by Andrews (16 points), Roehl (15 points/9 rebounds), and Peschong (11 points).

Upper Iowa was led by Wentzien's 10 points and 7 rebounds.

The Peacocks will remain at home next weekend with games against the #21 Vikings of Augustana College on Friday night and the Wildcats of Wayne State College on Saturday night. Both games are scheduled to tip at 8:00 p.m.