Box Score Records
Upper Iowa (0-2) || Fort Hays State (2-0)
Recap
Led by two freshmen, the Upper Iowa Men's Basketball team scored 90 points against one of the top teams in the MIAA on Sunday afternoon.
Josh Weeber earned a game-high 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting, while
Jimmy Roth finished second on the team with 17, but unfortunately, the Peacocks defense wasn't as stellar.
UIU allowed 97 points to the Tigers of Fort Hays State as FHSU earned the 97-90 non-conference victory during day number two of the SMSU Mustang Tournament in Marshall, Minnesota. The loss drops UIU to 0-2 to start the 2013 season, while the Tigers improve to 2-0.
Despite 17 points from Weeber in the first half, the Peacocks found themselves down by six early. The Tigers found the net on five of their first eight shot attempts as they took a 13-7 lead four minutes into the contest. A pair of threes – the first coming from Roth and the second from
Bo Pagel – tied the game up at 13-13 with 13:59 remaining.
Weeber then gave the Peacocks a pair of leads the first coming at the 12:58 mark and the second coming a minute later after his first bucket from beyond the arc. That trey gave UIU a 19-16 lead, but Weeber wasn't done. On the Peacocks' next possession, he drove the lane and earned a layup to give UIU its biggest lead of the first half, 21-16.
That lead didn't last long though as FHSU stormed back to tie the game at 24-all at the eight minute mark. Neither team led by more than three points for the rest of the first half and just when it looked as if the Peacocks would take a slim, one-point lead into the break, Craig Nicholson drove to the hoop with 7 seconds left and gave his team a 40-39 lead with a layup.
UIU shot 42-percent in the first half and both Weeber and Roth were in double-figures at the break, but the Tigers held the lead after finishing the opening stanza with a 53-percent shooting clip.
FHSU took their momentum from the first half and rode that to an early 10-point lead in the second period, while the Peacocks were scoreless for the first two minutes of the half. Roth and Pagel put UIU on the board, but it was a 13-4 run by the Tigers to start the period as they owned a 53-43 lead at the 16-minute mark.
Midway through the second half, the Peacocks chipped into the FHSU lead. Two free throws from Weeber, a layup from Pagel and a three-point play from
David Smith cut the Tigers lead to one-point, 62-61, at the 10:51 mark. Less than 20 seconds later,
Joey Woods hit back-to-back free throws to give UIU its first lead in the second half.
Woods finished with 16 points against the Tigers and went 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. The redshirt-senior earned 34 points over the weekend, which was second on the team to Weeber who scored 35 in the Peacocks first two games.
After retaking the lead for the first time since the second half, UIU's 1-point margin disappeared as FHSU went on a 9-3 run over the next three minutes. The teams went back and forth exchanging blow for blow, but the Tigers held a three-point lead with just 50 seconds left.
The Peacocks answered with a three-pointer from Roth at the top of the key, which tied the game at 83-83 with 39 seconds left.
Both teams missed their final shots of the period, with UIU's final three-point attempt from Roth missing just off the front of the rim.
The teams headed to overtime, but the Peacocks had another slow start. The Tigers jumped out to a 6-point lead and UIU never caught up. FHSU hit seven of their final eight free throw attempts to seal the 97-90 victory in the R/A Facility.
The Peacocks will stay away from Dorman Gym for one more game as they look to bounce back with a win against the University of Missouri – St. Louis on Thursday. That game is set for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
UIU Standouts
Weeber (Team-high 26 points, 6 rebounds), Roth (17 points, 1 steal), Pagel (16 points, 2 assists), Woods (14 points, 4 rebounds, team-high 2 steals and 5 assists),
David Smith (6 points, 3 assists).
Stat of the Game
Josh Weeber's 26 points on Sunday tied the Upper Iowa high mark for most points in a single game by a freshman in Division II play. Matt Lesan scored 26 against Concordia back on Jan. 11, 2008.
Sounding Off
Head Coach Brooks McKowen After the Game…
Overall Thoughts… "Our guys battled a good team today – Fort Hays has a lot of talent, but our guys were competing with them. We had a good look at the rim to win it, but at least we sent it to overtime. Now, overtime didn't go the way we wanted to, but we saw a lot of improvement from yesterday to today."
First Half Thoughts… "We started the game a little slow, and that's something we're going to need to correct as the season continues. We'll look at the film, but we haven't yet been able to get out to a good start this season. They came out with a lot of energy today and took an early lead. To our credit, we bounced back to tie the game and only trailed by one at halftime."
UIU Standouts… "Josh is one of our best shooters and we got him a couple open looks today and he was able to knock them down. He didn't have a good game from deep yesterday, but he was able to bounce back strong today.
Bo Pagel was the same way. For Bo, he came out and he was aggressive. He wasn't passing up open looks and once he made a couple of shots from deep, he gained a lot of confidence. He had a very nice game, not only from the three-point line, but also when he was attacking the rim."
Second Half Thoughts… "We had some defensive breakdowns again – I thought we needed a couple more stops to put ourselves in a position to win. We can't give them easy baskets where they're getting to the rim uncontested and I think we're close to accomplishing that. We're working hard, but we have to learn from these two games and keep making progress every day."
On the Last Shot in the Second Half… "We got the ball in Joey's hands and he attacked the rim. Fort Hays did a good job of walling it off, but Joey did a good job attacking and kicking it out to Jimmy who had a good look from the top of the key. He had just hit one from there and we got a decent look at the rim, but we just missed it short."
On the Overtime Period… "They came out and attacked the rim which got the officials involved, compared to our guys who may have settled for jumpers more often. They were able to knock down their free throws while our shots, despite getting good looks, just didn't go down."
Up Next
The Peacocks will look to get in the win column for the first time in 2013 as they take on the University of Missouri - St. Louis this upcoming Thursday night on the road.
