Box Score Upper Iowa looked ready to play from the get-go of Friday night’s NSIC-South matchup with the No. 8 Mavericks of Minnesota State, but the Peacocks fast start faded and the MSU defense was smothering all night long. The Peacocks shot just 36-percent from the floor, 21-percent from deep and a poor 57-percent from the charity stripe. UIU also gave up 42 points in the paint to MSU as the Peacocks lost for the fifth time inside Dorman Gym this season, 67-54.

“We wasted a great opportunity tonight to move into third-place with Augie losing,” Head Coach Brian Dolan said. “Our season is right in front of us. We still control our own destiny, but we have a lot of basketball left.”

As the playoffs draw closer, the Vikings of Augustana and the Peacocks remain tied in third place in the ultra-competitive NSIC-South division with identical 13-6 conference records. Augie holds the tiebreaker thanks to a 71-64 victory in Fayette, but the teams will meet again in the second to last game of the regular-season.

“It’s simple,” Dolan said. “Our guys are going to have to dig in and find some heart before tomorrow night. I mean, they have it, but I don’t know where it was tonight.”

In the previous meeting with the Mavericks, the Peacocks jumped out to a 20-2 lead in the opening ten minutes. Friday’s rematch started similarly, but this time, UIU couldn’t separate.

On the opening possession, the Peacocks went to Tucker Wentzien who backed down his defender and gave UIU an early 2-0 lead with a layup off the glass. It took a while for the Mavericks to get going, but Assem Marei tied the game at 2-2 with a similar layup in the lane. David Smith then retook the lead for the Peacocks with a drive and bucket off the glass, before Jake Hughes made one-of-two free throws to put UIU up, 5-2.

The teams exchanged buckets before the Mavericks made their first-of-two runs in the first half. Down, 7-4, MSU made six-straight points before the Peacocks could answer with a layup from Sam Elgin.

Jordan Hay drained a 17-foot-jumper from the elbow as the shot-clock ran down to tie the game again, this time at 12-12, with 11:14 remaining in the opening half.

Hay was just one of six players Coach Dolan called upon in the first half after a couple key starters picked up multiple fouls. Jake Shonka entered in relief for Wentzien and scored four points, while Cedric Collins entered at the nine-minute mark and drilled his first shot attempt – a long two from the corner.

Collins’ bucket came on the heels of back-to-back buckets from Grant Lang, who drained a three from the top of the key before connecting on a jumper on the baseline. After the Mavericks missed a three, Shonka used a spin move and a left-handed layup to put the Peacocks up 21-16 with 8:03 remaining in the first half.

In all, the reserves had 15 first half points, but 11 first-half offensive boards for the Mavericks kept the game close and eventually gave MSU the lead.

Down, 21-16 the Mavericks went on a 15-0 run that spanned just over four and a half minutes and the Peacocks could not recover, despite trailing by only five points at the half.

MSU had 22 points in the paint in the first period and its 33-28 lead at the break quickly turned into an 11-point lead four minutes into the second stanza after back-to-back-to-back assists and a bucket from Zach Monaghan.

A jumper from Elgin helped UIU stay close and pulled the Peacocks within nine, 41-32, with 15:33 remaining in the game. On the Peacocks’ next possession, Elgin found a streaking Wentzien for the assist and jam and the dunk pulled the Peacocks within seven points - a run-starter for the Peacocks for sure.

Not on Friday night.

The Mavericks went back to Marei and he responded with three-straight points to push MSU’s lead back to ten.

A four-point play from Wentzien at the nine-minute mark wasn’t even enough to cut the Maverick lead to single-digits as MSU controlled a double-digit lead for the remainder of the night.

MSU finished with 42 points in the paint, compared to just 22 for UIU and the Mavericks shot 68-percent from the floor in the second half to avoid the sweep.

Despite nine UIU steals, MSU also held the edge in the points-off-turnovers category, 19-10.

With the 67-54 victory, the Mavericks improved to 20-3 overall and 16-3 in conference play, while the loss drops the Peacocks to 17-8 overall and 13-6 in the NSIC.

“We have to learn from it, but we have to bury it before shoot-around tomorrow,” Dolan said.

The Peacocks will need their best come Saturday night as they host a red-hot Concordia, St. Paul team that defeated No. 15 Winona State, 89-74, on the road on Friday night.

The Golden Bears have now won four in a row and five of their last six, but the Peacocks defeated CU earlier this season in St. Paul. UIU earned a seven-point victory in that meeting thanks to a career-high 23 points from Shonka.

Shonak will be one of five Peacock seniors from the men’s team that will be honored before the CU game. Click here to read the preview for that game.