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Official Athletics Site of the Upper Iowa Peacocks
Upper Iowa Peacocks
Jareese Williams Shoots Over MSU Defender
Alec Schoof, UIU Student Photographer
82
Winner Upper Iowa UIU 9-1,4-1 NSIC
80
Southwest Minn. St. SMSU 6-4,2-3 NSIC
Winner
Upper Iowa UIU
9-1,4-1 NSIC
82
Final
80
Southwest Minn. St. SMSU
6-4,2-3 NSIC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Upper Iowa UIU 43 39 82
Southwest Minn. St. SMSU 35 45 80

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Evan Brinnon, Sports Communication GA

Peacock Hoops Bridles Mustangs to Secure Weekend Sweep

The Upper Iowa University men's basketball team managed the Mustangs to sweep their pair of games over the weekend. UIU used an advantage from behind the arc and in points off turnovers to overcome an inside advantage from SMSU, winning 82-80. The Peacocks improve to 9-1 (4-1 NSIC) while Southwest Minnesota State University falls to 6-4 (2-3 NSIC).

The Upper Iowa University men's basketball team managed the Mustangs to sweep their pair of games over the weekend. UIU used an advantage from behind the arc and in points off turnovers to overcome an inside advantage from SMSU, winning 82-80. The Peacocks improve to 9-1 (4-1 NSIC) while Southwest Minnesota State University falls to 6-4 (2-3 NSIC). 
 
The Peacocks never trailed in the first period after Cade Moritz opened the scoring with a layup on the first possession of the game. UIU built up an 18-10 lead in the first 5:57 of the game, but SMSU cut their deficit in half, trailing 25-21 with just under nine minutes to play in the half. Jake Hilmer answered with a bucket and a steal on consecutive possessions, turning the turnover into a jumper for Lucas Duax to quickly reclaim the eight-point advantage.
 
The Mustangs pulled within four once again at 33-29, and their first three-pointer of the game at the 2:19 mark made it a two-point game, 35-33. The Peacocks scored on their final three possessions to close the half on an 8-2 run. Jareese Williams and Joe Smoldt knocked down tough shots from beyond the arc on UIU's last two looks, pushing the Peacock advantage to 43-35 at the halftime break thanks to a 4-10 (40%) clip from deep while holding SMSU to just 1-6 (16.7%).
 
A putback layup by Max Duax gave Upper Iowa their largest lead of the game at 53-44 with 15:07 to play. After some back-and-forth play, Williams and Smoldt sandwiched a SMSU shot with shots from deep once again with just under 12 minutes left to play, putting UIU ahead by double-digits for the first time, 63-53. Back-to-back buckets by Hilmer and Williams put the Peacocks up by a dozen with 7:27. The Mustangs cut their deficit in half with a 6-0 run after a timeout, but Moritz swished home a three-pointer to halt the Mustang's momentum.
 
SMSU used a 7-1 stretch to pull within one possession at 78-75, and a Mustang layup after their full-court press forced a steal made it a two-point game with just over one minute left, 79-77. After SMSU missed a potential game-tying layup, Williams knocked down one of two free throws, making it a three-point game with 10 seconds to play. Not wanting to allow a tying shot from deep, the Peacocks fouled SMSU with four seconds remaining, but the Mustangs missed their 1-and-1 attempt. Smoldt knocked down a pair from the charity stripe before SMSU's Kenny Byers banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer to finish with 22 points and a game-high seven rebounds, and the game ended in an 82-80 win for Upper Iowa.


STATS OF THE GAME… 

  • The Mustangs out-shot the Peacocks from the field 30-58 (51.7%) to 29-59 (49.2%), but UIU doubled up on SMSU from three-point range, shooting 8-18 (44.4%) compared to 4-14 (28.6%). 

  • Southwest Minnesota State held the advantage inside with a 37-28 rebounding advantage, 42-30 margin in points in the paint, and a 15-9 mark in second-chance points thanks to an 11-7 offensive rebounding advantage. 

  • Upper Iowa never trailed in the game and led for all but 23 seconds when the score was 2-2, but UIU could only push their lead up to 12.


PEACOCKS OF THE GAME… 

  • Jareese Williams paced the Peacocks and tied for a game-high with 22 points and led UIU with six rebounds. Williams shot 7-16 (43.8%) from the floor, 3-6 (50%) from three, and 5-6 (83.3%) from the free throw line.

  • Joe Smoldt tallied 15 points while grabbing five rebounds and adding three assists. Smoldt overcame a 3-9 (33.3%) clip from the floor by going 2-6 (33.3%) from deep and 7-9 (77.8%) from the charity stripe. 

  • Cade Moritz dropped in a season-high 14 points for the second night in a row, shooting a game-best 6-7 (85.7%) from the floor and 1-1 from three. Moritz added three rebounds and snared a game and career-high three steals. 

  • Jake Hilmer notched 14 points on 7-13 (53.8%) shooting. Himler contributed a game-high four assists while adding a pair of rebounds and steals.


UP NEXT… The Peacocks return home to Fayette for a matchup against Maryville University at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 14, in Dorman Memorial Gymnasium. UIU will also host Augustana University and Wayne State College on Dec. 17 and 18, respectively, in their last games of 2021.
 

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