Box Score
The Upper Iowa men’s basketball team opened the final weekend of regular season play Friday night by welcoming the Beavers of Bemidji State to Dorman Gym in Fayette needing a pair of wins to have an opportunity to qualify for the NSIC/Sanford Health Men’s Basketball Tournament. UIU and BSU exchanged the lead 16 times throughout the course of the matchup, but in the end, the final Friday night of the season ended in heartache for Upper Iowa as they dropped an overtime contest, 63-61.
Senior Matt Lesan led Upper Iowa with 12 points while Dan Bestul added 11 points. The Peacocks shot 41.5% (22-53) for the game while Bemidji State made almost half of their shot attempts (25-51) and slightly outrebounded Upper Iowa, 33-29.
The two squads combined for just 20 points in the first ten minutes of action before Bemidji State ran out on a 11-3 run to extend their lead to 22-12 with 5:41 to play before the halftime break. However, a 10-0 run by UIU, fueled by eight points by Lesan quickly extinguished the Beaver lead and tied the game at 22-22 just minutes before the Beavers took a slim one point lead, 27-26, into the locker rooms at halftime.
Neither team would gain more than a three point advantage until the 10:22 mark of the second half when Bemidji State built their lead to six points. Upper Iowa answered quickly though and eventually took their first lead of the second half with 7:16 to play when Sam Elgin nailed a jumper to give UIU a 51-49 advantage.
The two squads would make just two more field goals the rest of the second half, the second coming from Lesan with 24 seconds to play to put Upper Iowa up a point, 57-56. The Beavers had a chance at the end of the game when Jake Hughes fouled Beaver forward Bryce Tesdahl with five seconds to go, but Tesdahl missed the second of two free throws to send the game to overtime tied at 57-57.
UIU took an early lead in overtime, but the extra five minutes was a see-saw battle and in the end, BSU ended up with a two point win, 63-61.
James Ellisor led Bemidji State with 21 points on nine-of-16 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds.
With the loss, UIU has been eliminated from the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament and falls to 8-17 overall and 7-14 in the NSIC.
The Peacocks will close out the 2010-11 campaign tomorrow night when Minnesota Duluth visits Fayette for an 8 p.m. showdown. Prior to tipoff seniors Matt Lesan, Alex Kramer, Dan Bestul, Neil Gross, Alex Huisman and Chris Sullivan will be honored before their final game in Peacock Blue.
