FAYETTE, Iowa - UIU men's basketball (12-3, 7-1 GLVC) fell to Quincy (Ill.) (8-8, 3-5 GLVC), 85-66, on Thursday. This ended Upper Iowa's historic 7-0 start in GLVC play.
Freshman guard Ethan Bolton aided the Hawks to the 85-66 victory. He recorded 38 points, shooting 12-for-14 (85.7%) from the floor, 15 rebounds, three steals, three blocks and two assists. Five of his rebounds were offensive rebounds. It was the first 35-plus point performance by an opponent since Nov. 26, 2023, when Jordan Horn scored 37 in Concordia-St. Paul's (Minn.) 103-92 win over UIU.
Guard Trey Lewis led Upper Iowa in scoring with 23 points. He went 9-for-15 (60%) from the field and 3-for-6 (50%) from beyond the arc. The senior added two assists and a rebound.
Forward Kyle Hrncir had eight points, five rebounds and an assist. Redshirt junior Zach Erwin recorded seven points, six rebounds and an assist. Forward Ty Pflughaupt posted seven points, two steals, two assists, a block and a rebound. Freshman Anton Fontin had five points and two rebounds.
Quincy jumped out to an early 16-9 lead six minutes in. The Hawks extended their lead to 29-20 for the largest of the half with 6:29 left.
Over the next three minutes, Upper Iowa went on a 13-4 run using three Hawk turnovers to tie, 33-33. Pflughaupt scored seven points during this run, knocking down a 3-pointer after getting a steal at midcourt.
The Hawks answered with a 7-0 run to close the half, with Tiernan Stynes scoring four of them. Bolton recorded 20 points in the first 20 minutes, making 7-of-8 (87.5%) shot attempts in the half.
Quincy controlled the second half, after leading 40-33 at the break. An 8-0 spurt between 13:38 to 12:31 gave Quincy a 60-42 lead. Bolton dunked to give the Hawks their biggest lead of the night at 25 points with 7:23 left. The freshman added 18 points in the second half to give Quincy the 85-66 win.
Upper Iowa shot 25-for-76 (32.9%) from the floor, 7-for-31 from three (22.6%) and 9-for-14 (64.3%) from the charity stripe. Quincy was 31-for-54 (57.4%) from the floor, 5-for-11 (45.5%) on 3-point attempts and 18-for-26 (69.2%) from the free throw line.
UIU led QU in steals, 11-6, and in bench points, 24-11. The Hawks outscored the Peacocks in the paint 48-24 and had a 52-33 advantage in rebounds. UIU played 13 guys in total.
Upper Iowa's 7-0 start to conference play was the program's best in the Division II era. The previous best was 4-0 in 2016-17 and 2012-13.
Upper Iowa looks to bounce back against Truman State (Mo.) (7-9, 4-4 GLVC) on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Bulldogs beat Lewis (Ill.) (4-11, 2-5 GLVC), 74-40, on Thursday.
