Upper Iowa defeated Wayne State College on Saturday afternoon by a 82-74 count. Upper Iowa led wire-to-wire in the contest. The Wildcats recovered from an early 20-point deficit but were never able to claim the lead to complete the comeback. Joe Smoldt and Lucas Duax led the Upper Iowa offense with a cumulative 52 points. With the win, Upper Iowa improves to 3-5 on the season and 1-3 in conference play. Following the loss, Wayne State falls to 4-4 overall, 4-2 in the NSIC.
Upper Iowa began the game on fire sprinting out to a 25-7 lead. The run included spurts of nine and 10 unanswered points. Joe Smoldt sank three trifectas within the first five minutes of play helping push the Peacocks to the 18-point advantage at the 13:37 mark. UIU out rebounded WSC 8-4 during the stretch, an area where they struggled significantly the night before. The Wildcats clawed back into the game with a 13-0 run that cut their deficit down to seven points with 1:20 to go in the first frame. The score stood at 40-29 at halftime in favor of Upper Iowa.
Joe Smoldt led all scorers with 15 points on a stellar 6-7 (85.7%) rate from the floor including a 3-4 (75%) mark from downtown to go along with four boards. The Peacocks out performed the Wildcats from all three scoring levels: 15-34 (44.1%) to 12-34 (35.3%) from the field, 4-10 (40%) to 2-7 (28.6%) from beyond the arc, and 6-6 to 3-4 (75%) from the charity stripe.Â
The majority of the second half saw the two teams go neck-and-neck as neither squad could pull away until Wayne State rattled off seven unanswered points to tie the game at 68 all. Upper Iowa responded with a 14-6 advantage of their own to secure the win 82-74. 12 of the 14 points were provided by Smoldt, who finished with a game-high 29 points tying a career-high.
STATS OF THE GAME…Â
-
The Peacocks were perfect from the free throw line (16-16) for the first time since January 2019 while the Wildcats went 5-8 (62.5%).
-
Wayne State held a +7 rebound margin over Upper Iowa compared to a +31 mark the game prior.
-
UIU forced double the turnovers they committed (18-9).
PEACOCKS OF THE GAME…Â
-
Smoldt tied a career-best 29 points on a 9-14 (64.3%) mark on field goal attempts including a 5-8 (62.5%) rate from three-point land in addition to grabbing six boards.
-
Duax came within one point of tying his career-high with 23 points on a 8-14 (57.1%) clip from the field including a 3-4 (75%) rate from deep. Duax registered two steals and two rebounds as well.
-
Jareese Williams added 11 points on a 4-8 (50%) mark from the floor and came down with a team-high seven boards and two steals
UP NEXT… Upper Iowa will return to Fayette where UIU will host Augustana University on Jan. 29-30.
Â
