The Peacock Men’s Basketball team closed out a brief two-game road stint Sunday afternoon when they visited the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn. for a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchup against the Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul.  The Peacocks took a ten point lead into the halftime break, but the Golden Bears outscored UIU 51-32 in the second half to take the matchup 82-73.

For the second time this weekend, the Peacocks raced out to an early lead thanks to extremely hot shooting from beyond the three-point arc. The Peacocks netted four three's from four different players to open up a 14-3 lead in the early part of the first half. The road team quickly extended their lead to 15 points just minutes later as Matt Lesan and Sam Elgin each netted their second three pointers of the game to make the score 22-7 with just over 12 minutes to play in the first half.

The Golden Bears would cut the lead back to 8 late in the first half, but UIU's hot shooting kept their lead in double digits throughout much of the half and the Peacocks took a comfortable 41-31 lead to the locker room at halftime.

UIU shot 13-of-27 in the first half of action which included an outstanding 8-of-12 from beyond the three point arc. Lesan led all players at the break with 11 points while Tucker Wentzien added 10 points and grabbed six boards. Upper Iowa also turned the ball over just one time in the first twenty minutes of play while CU registered four turnovers.

Concordia-St. Paul looked like a different team following the halftime break as they outscored UIU 19-10 over the first six minutes of the second half to cut the road squad's lead to just one, 51-50, with 14:10 remaining in regulation. The home team retook the lead just two minutes later and never allowed Upper Iowa to regain control of the contest as Concordia won the game, 82-73.

Wentzien lead UIU with 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Lesan added 20 on six-of-11 shooting.  Upper Iowa’s hot shooting cooled off in the second half but for the game, UIU shot 41.8% which included a eight-for-16 mark from three-point range.  CU’s Peter Olafeso led all scorers with 23 points while twin brother, Kenny, added 14.

The Golden Bears outscored UIU 17-2 in second chance points and 38-26 in the paint while UIU fell to 4-9 overall and 3-6 in league games.

On Friday, UIU returns home to take on the Dragons of MSU Moorhead inside Dorman Gym.  Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.