Tweet #UIUMBBALL


BOX SCORE


Upper Iowa outscored the #20 team in the country by six in the second half, but the Peacock rally fell just shy as St. Cloud State claimed the 75-72 victory.  After the loss, UIU falls to 7-14 overall and 4-13 in the NSIC, while SCSU improves to 17-4 overall and 13-4 in the conference.

After playing with the Huskies over the first ten minutes of the game, the Peacocks began to fall behind heading into the halftime break.  At the 7:40 mark, the Huskies held a one-point advantage, 21-20, but the lead grew to nine by halftime as the home team's offense picked up.  The advantage for the Huskies came in large part to a 15-2 run that spanned four minutes and pushed the home team's lead to 14, 36-22.  St. Cloud State outscored their guests 20-11 over the final seven minutes to take a 40-31 lead into the locker room.

The Peacocks still found themselves down nine points, 54-45, with 11:41 to play in the game, but Upper Iowa dug down and began to rally.  Over the next five minutes, UIU outscored their hosts, 12-3, to tie the game, 57-57.  The visitor's run was fueled by a pair of Joey Woods jumpers and three-pointers from Trevor Hook and Bo Pagel.

UIU continued their run adding another two triples from the hand of Pagel giving the Peacocks a 63-59 lead with 5:06 showing on the clock.  The Huskies' Tim Bergstraser hit a pair of free throws and Theo Rothstein hit a jumper to knot the score, 63-63, as the clock moved under four minutes to play.

Mike Lafrenz gave the Peacocks their final lead of the night, 67-65, on a jumper thanks to a Jake Hughes assist.  St. Cloud State took the lead back on their next possession thanks to a three-pointer to take a one-point lead.  The Huskies began to inch away from the Peacocks taking a 72-69 lead with under 30 seconds to play.

The Peacocks split a pair of free throws with 16 seconds to play to trail by two points, 72-70, but Sam Elgin was able to snare the rebound and kick to Tucker Wentzien for a three-pointer and an Upper Iowa lead.  Unfortunately, the shot missed and the visitors were forced to foul and send the Huskies to the charity stripe.  Wentzien hit the final field goal of the night, but a made SCSU free throw on each side of the putback held off the Upper Iowa rally.  St. Cloud State held on for the 75-72 win.