Box Score Records
Upper Iowa (16-14) || MSU Moorhead (21-7)
Recap
Despite reaching the semifinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament for the second consecutive year, the Upper Iowa men's basketball team's dreams of a championship came to an end on Saturday afternoon. The Dragons of MSU Moorhead – the top-seed in the NSIC-North – wouldn't let the Peacocks pull off another upset as they led wire-to-wire to earn the 79-68 victory in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Joey Woods led the Peacocks in scoring with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, but the loss ends the redshirt-senior's career at Upper Iowa. His game-high 26 points ties a school record for most points scored in an NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament game.
In a reoccurring theme this week, the Peacocks suffered from another slow start. Despite a fast-break layup from
Bo Pagel and a free throw from
Jordan Hay, UIU trailed 12-3 eight minutes into the game. The Peacocks hit just one of their first six shots, but it didn't get better right away.
Woods added four points,
Jimmy Roth added a bucket in the paint and
Kierre Ogbonna followed suit, but MSUM was running away with the lead. The Dragons hit 12 of their first 20 shots and jumped out to a game-high 18-point lead, 29-11, with 6:20 to play before intermission.
After beginning the game just 1-of-15 from the floor, the Peacocks finally kicked their offense into high gear. Much like earlier in the week when the team held Minnesota Duluth to one point over the final five minutes of the opening period in Fayette, Upper Iowa clamped down on defense, only not to that extreme. UIU dropped MSUM back down to a 50-percent shooting clip, while forcing nine first half turnovers.
The Peacocks, who missed all nine of their three-point attempts in the first half, passed up the perimeter shots and attacked the paint instead.
Josh Weeber began a 19-13 run for the team in blue as the freshman converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way with six minutes left in the period. Fifteen seconds later,
Jace Hanna and
Jordan Hay added back-to-back layups as UIU pulled within 13, 31-18.
Hay added two free throws before Woods really started to heat up. The redshirt senior hit all five of his shots in the final four minutes of the opening stanza as his offensive prowess pulled the Peacocks within 12 at the half, 42-30. Woods led all scorers with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting at the break.
Although it wasn't Woods providing the offensive spark early in the second half, the Peacocks kept up their hot play as they finally found their rhythm from beyond the arc. After two early free throws from Hanna, Weeber hit back-to-back-to-back threes – the latter of which pulled UIU within five, 46-41. Woods tacked on two freebies from the charity stripe as the Peacocks began the half on a 13-2 run.
MSUM answered with four straight points before
Luke Lenhart added his own trifecta. Woods added three more points as he neared the 20-point plateau after a layup in transition. His bucket kept UIU within three, 52-49, but the Peacocks couldn't slow down the Dragon offense.
A three and a layup helped MSUM regain an eight-point lead, 57-49, before Woods answered with his only trifecta of the game. After the Dragons answered with a layup from their leading scorer, Urbane Bingham, Pagel added another trey – this one coming in front of the Upper Iowa bench on the left wing. Suddenly UIU was back within four points with 10:25 remaining in regulation.
Woods added another jumper as the Naples, Florida native reached the 24-point mark, but UIU went silent from the floor over the next five minutes. MSUM used that stretch to take a ten-point lead, 67-57, and UIU could not recover. Despite eight points from Roth in the final four and a half minutes, the Peacocks couldn't mount a comeback.
MSUM held the lead wire-to-wire as they wrapped up the 79-68 victory advancing to the semifinals game on Monday. The Dragons will face the winner of the Winona State and St. Cloud State matchup.
The loss ends the Peacocks' season as UIU finishes the year with a 16-14 overall record.
Stat of the Game
The 15 Peacock turnovers ties a season-high. UIU also had 15 against Wayne State in the regular-season finale.
Woods' 26 points ties a UIU high for most points scored in an NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament game. Sam Elgin scored 26 against Minot State in the opening round in the 2012-13 season.
UIU Standouts
Woods (26 points, 10-of-16 FG, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal), Weeber (12 points, 4-of-9 FG, 3 rebounds), Roth (10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist)
