Box Score Photo Gallery
Joey Woods' Layup With Less Than a Minute to Play (Video)
Records
Upper Iowa (7-9, 5-5 NSIC) || U-Mary (2-13, 0-10 NSIC)
Recap
The Upper Iowa Men's Basketball team was tested on Saturday night. The U-Mary Marauders entered Dorman Gym with a 2-12 overall record and they were winless in conference play 0-9, but the Peacocks couldn't take them lightly. U-Mary, led by Jalen Jasper's 31 points proved why every team in the NSIC is dangerous. Yet, the Peacock also flexed some muscle -
Grant Lang totaled 17 points and hit five threes in the game, while
Joey Woods totaled a team-high 26 points – en route to a 79-71 victory at home.
Knowing they had to avoid a let-down, the Peacocks got the start they wanted and it was because of the three-point shooting. UIU started 3-for-3 from beyond the arc – all from Lang – and it led to a seven-point lead, 21-14, midway through the first period. Weeber was the first to strike gold though as he helped UIU scratch the scoreboard with a three from the left wing. Jaspers – as he would do all night long – answered for U-Mary with a drive and layup but the Peacocks went right back to Weeber and the freshman delivered with another bucket.
Then Lang drained his first of five treys from the right wing to put UIU up by six, 8-2. Woods and Roth sandwiched a U-Mary bucket to keep UIU out in front by six, 12-6 before Lang really started to heat up. The junior wing hit a pair of threes and
Bo Pagel added a layup to give UIU its largest lead of the first half. During that stretch, with #Jimmy# Roth in foul trouble and on the bench,
Jordan Hay and Pagel combined for four points, two boards, two steals and a block.
But the UIU lead didn't last.
The Marauders held UIU to just three points over the next five minutes and they used that time to tie the game at 24-all, then take the lead off a Germain Decoste jumper at the 4:26 mark in the first half. Hay and Woods went back to work and combined for four points to give the Peacocks a slim one-point lead. With 3:22 left in the first half, U-Mary picked the right time to go on another run. The Marauders hit a jumper and a three before adding a free throw to go up by five, 32-27, with 1:19 left before the break.
Woods hit two free throws before intermission and the Peacock defense prevented a final Marauder basket to ensure just a two-point lead for U-Mary at the break, 32-30.
Just like their hot start to the game, the Peacocks started the second half by going to Weeber early and often. The Dubuque, Iowa native converted a three-point play on UIU's first possession. Then, Woods earned the steal at half court and went coast-to-coast, getting fouled in the process but still making the layup. The redshirt-senior converted the free throw to give UIU a two-point lead, 36-34 – its first advantage since the 3:22 mark in the second half.
Once again, it didn't last.
U-Mary went on another run. This one, with momentum building on the Marauders side, spanned two and a half minutes as U-Mary racked up a 12-0 run capped by a Jaspers dunk and a Chris Mason layup.
UIU took a timeout and Head Coach
Brooks McKowen dialed up a backdoor cut and reverse-layup from Roth to cut into the ten-point Marauder lead. U-Mary hit one more jumper before UIU closed the gap. Woods hit three of four free throw attempts while Roth nailed a jumper. Then Lang elevated and hit a three from the right corner to pull UIU within two, 48-46, with 13:49 left in the second half. After a U-Mary bucket, the run continued. This time it was Pagel who drained a long ball cutting the lead to one point.
Forty seconds later, Lang hit his fifth trifecta of the game – a momentum-changing shot that gave UIU a 52-50 lead and forced U-Mary to take a timeout.
The teams exchanged the lead twice before Hay tied it at 55-all with another free throw. But the Peacocks couldn't slow Jaspers down. U-Mary's senior guard went on his own 5-0 burst before
Jace Hanna answered with a three-point play the old-fashioned way.
Hanna cut the Marauder lead to two, 60-58, but the visitors answered with a 5-1 run to go back up by six with 4:16 left in regulation. The Peacocks found their answer by scoring on their next three possessions – all layups. Roth had the first before Woods and
Kierre Ogbonna found the net. That's when Woods took over.
The Naples, Florida native scored the next 12 points for UIU which completely shifted the momentum to the Peacocks' side. Drive after drive, Woods came through for the home team (
Click here to see the video).
Lang added two free throws at the end as the Peacocks scored the final six points of the game en route to the 79-71 conference victory.
Stat of the Game
For his last five games, Woods has shot at or above .500 percent (29-for-48) and has scored a total of 80 points. His 26 points against U-Mary is a career-high, surpassing his previous mark of 24 against SMSU two seasons ago.
Sounding Off
Head Men's Basketball Coach Brooks McKowen After the Game...
On Facing U-Mary... "They've hung with a lot of teams this year – U-Mary is a very competitive team and they're a good basketball team, especially when you get a guy like Jalen Jaspers going. They just battled. But I give our guys a lot of credit – there were times where we could have just quit, but they didn't. It came down to the end and we were able to finish it strong."
First Half Thoughts... "I felt really good about our performance on the defensive side of the ball in the first half, but offensively, I thought we became stagnant. We let them dictate the tempo – as you can see by the ending of the second half, we need to attack the rim and finish with contact."
On Joey Woods' Performance..."It kind of looked like it was a one-on-one game with him and Jaspers tonight. Both teams gave those two the ball and got out of their way. But in all seriousness, Joey did a great job tonight. He picked up two quick fouls in the second half, but we weren't able to rest him with some of our other guys being injured. So he had to play 17 minutes in the second half and we tend to put the ball in his hands a lot. When the game mattered though, he put his head down and got to the rim."
On Grant Lang's Shooting... "He can flat-out shoot the basketball. Sometimes, he needs our offense to create an open look for him, but what I really like about him lately is his ability to create off the dribble. He's been shooting extremely well and he deserves a lot of credit for that. He got in the gym and he put the time in to get better."
On Facing USF Next... "This league is so tough and it's almost impossible to get a sweep in this conference. The guys were able to do that tonight, but right away on Monday it's back to work for us. We have a big weekend coming up as we head to USF and Southwest Minnesota State. We just have to get back to work and continue to get better."
UIU Standouts
Woods (26 points, 6 assists, 1 steal), Lang (17 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals), Weeber (9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist, 1 block), Roth (8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block), Hay (7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals)
Up Next
After two weeks of facing NSIC-North opponents, Upper Iowa will get back into the teeth of their NSIC-South schedule as they hit the road next Friday as UIU heads to Sioux Falls, S.D. on Jan. 17 to battle the Cougars of USF.
