Upper Iowa men's basketball concluded the CSP Thanksgiving Classic by suffering a 103-92 loss to the University of Concordia, St. Paul. The Peacocks fall to 3-3 on the season while the Golden Bears improve to 5-2 overall and 0-1 in the NSIC. 
 
The Peacocks held an 82-81 lead with 5:37 remaining, but allowed the Golden Bears to string together a 13-2 run, nine of those points going unanswered. UIU broke the burst with a pair of free throws from Noah King, but still trailed by eight (94-86) with two minutes to go. 
 
The Golden Bears were fouled and put to the test at the charity stripe as they converted nine free throws to end the game with a comfortable margin. King was the only scorer the rest of the way for the Peacocks as he put up six more points to trail Concordia by a deficit of 103-92 at the final buzzer.
 
The Peacocks finished their tough-fought game just as they started, fighting from behind. They were down by a deficit of 12 during the first half, but only trailed 46-42 after the first 20 minutes of action. They did not lead at any point, but tied the game up at 26 each after a three-pointer from Caleb Delzell. 
 
In the second half, a bucket at the rim from William Kiburis and a charge he took on the other end set the Peacocks up for their first opportunity to take the lead. Hilmer capitalized with a familiar pull-up jumper for the 73-72 lead with just over nine minutes remaining.
 
It remained a one possession game until the three-and-a-half-minute mark as Upper Iowa struggled to get a stop on defense and could not quite put together the offensive output in the final minutes to keep within striking distance. 
 
Senior guard Jake Hilmer was no stranger to standing out in the stat line as he battled to keep Upper Iowa in the game throughout the first half and kept them within reach for most of the match. He ended the first stanza with 20 points and finished the game with 37, going 17-29 (58.6%) from the floor. 
 
King tacked on 21 points and went 8-8 from the foul line. Nick Reid also recorded a 21-point outing, going 2-5 beyond the arc and adding a team-high seven rebounds. Kiburis hauled in four offensive boards and finished the game with six rebounds, alongside Delzell and King.
 
The Peacocks relied heavily on their starting five as their squad only recorded two bench points, whereas the Golden Bears collected 29 points from their reserves. 
 
UIU shot 45.7% from the field and 20% from the arc (4-20). They went 14-18 from the free throw line (77.8%). The Golden Bears finished the game 33-66 (51.6%) from the floor, 10-24 (41.7%) from long distance and 27-39 (69.2%) at the stripe. 
 
Upper Iowa opens their conference slate on the road next weekend versus Truman State on Dec. 2 at 3 p.m. in Kirksville, Mo. Their GLVC flow will be put on pause as they host non-conference opponent North Central (MN) for their home opener on Tues. Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. in Dorman Memorial Gymnasium.