Upper Iowa dropped a 69-60 defensive battle at Southwest Minnesota State University on Friday night. The Mustangs stayed in a tie for second place with Wayne State College and improved to 15-9 overall and 11-8 in the NSIC, while the Peacocks dropped to 13-12 overall and 10-9 in the conference and moved into a tie for fourth place with Minnesota State University, Mankato.
After the teams came out of the locker rooms tied at 28-28, SMSU opened the second half with a 10-0 run that spanned the first four minutes of the period. During the big run for the home team, Upper Iowa was 0-4 from the field with a pair of turnovers, while Southwest Minnesota State converted five layups in six tries to establish their double-digit lead.
Over the next five minutes, the Peacock offense began to find some rhythm, but with 11:46 to play, Upper Iowa still trailed 46-36. UIU launched a 7-0 run to cut the margin to three points, 46-43, highlighted by a four-point play from
Jake Hilmer. An old-fashioned, three-point play from
Baden Noennig and a layup by
Lucas Duax returned the gap to three points after each make, but the Peacocks couldn't get any closer.
The home team grew their lead back to nine points, 57-48, thanks to a 6-0 run when
Nick Reid was able to convert an and-one and give UIU life again trailing by six with 4:18 to play. Two minutes later, Duax got loose in the paint and registered a three-point play to get the visitors within four, 58-54, but an unlucky bounce on an "air-banked" three-point attempt landed in the hands of SMSU's Jake Phipps for a tip-in, three-point play with just under two minutes to play.
The Mustangs took the break and added four more points to send their advantage back to 11 points, 65-54, with 1:04 showing on the clock. In the end, UIU was only able to shave two more points off the lead falling 69-60 at the final buzzer.
Upper Iowa had no answer for Phipps in the paint for the Mustangs. The SMSU center scored 28 points on 12-17 shooting and added three triples and eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Cliff McCray and Dunwa Omot each added 11 points, while Majok Majouk scored nine. UIU fell to 0-10 when their opponent shoots 50% or better; SMSU knocked down 26 of their 52 shots.
Reid led the Peacocks with his eighth double-double of the season scoring 16 points and pulling down 10 rebounds; he added two assists, two blocks and a steal as well. Duax (15) and Hilmer (13) combined to score 28 points, while
Dylan Jones and
Caleb Delzell each scored five points. Upper Iowa came into the game averaging just over 10 turnovers per game, but coughed the ball up 15 times limiting their opportunities, although, the team did make up for it with 14 offensive rebounds, which ties for the second highest tally of the season. Unfortunately, UIU only scored eight second chance points.
Upper Iowa has a shot at a weekend split tomorrow afternoon in Sioux Falls, S.D. when they take on the first-place Cougars of the University of Sioux Falls at 3:30 p.m. The Peacocks dominated the first match up in Fayette winning 92-71 while shooting 63.5% from the floor.
