Upper Iowa defeated Southwest Minnesota State University 63-55 in a low-scoring back-and-forth battle Friday night. The 63 points scored by the Peacocks is the least amount posted by UIU in a winning effort this season. The game was also the first time Upper Iowa kept an opponent within 55 points this year. The 118 combined points between the two teams makes Friday night's matchup UIU's lowest-scoring game all season. With the win, Upper Iowa improves to 16-9 on the year, 13-6 in conference play. SMSU falls to 7-18 overall, 4-15 in the NSIC. After tonight's slate of NSIC matchups, the Peacocks are just one win or one Augustana University loss away from clinching a home game in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament.
After trading buckets to begin the game, Upper Iowa broke off on a 7-0 run to go ahead 16-12 with 9:13 to play in the first half. The Peacocks maintained their advantage as they went into half ahead 31-27.Joe Smoldt led all scorers with 12 points at the break as he went 5-10 (50%) from the field in the first frame.
The Mustangs and the Peacocks went toe-to-toe for most of the second frame. Upper Iowa broke off an 11-4 run that put UIU up 57-51 with 2:27 on the clock. The stretch was highlighted by two trifectas from Cade Moritz. Upper Iowa outscored SMSU 6-4 in the final moments of the game resulting in the 63-55 Peacock win.
STATS OF THE GAME…Â
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UIU held the advantage from the free throw line converting 20-24 (83.3%) of their attempts compared to a 7-10 (70%) mark posted by SMSU.
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Upper Iowa reeled in 12 offensive rebounds while SMSU came down with seven.
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The Peacocks committed just nine turnovers on the night compared to 16 tallied by the Mustangs.
PEACOCKS OF THE GAME…Â
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Smoldt scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed four rebounds. He also went 6-12 (50%) from the field and 5-5 from the charity stripe.
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Moritz scored 10 points, shooting 4-6 (66.7%) from the field including 2-3 (66.7%) from three-point land. He also tallied four boards on the night.
QUOTABLES...
UP NEXT…  Upper Iowa will take on the University of Sioux Falls Cougars on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m. Live stats and a webcast will be available at UIUPeacocks.com/LIVE. The game will also stream live on the NSIC app through Roku and Fire devices, as well as Apple and Android TV. Saturday night's showdown can be viewed locally on KCRG TV 9.2.
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