FAYETTE, Iowa - Peacock men's basketball (13-4, 8-2 GLVC) fell to William Jewell (Mo.) (11-7, 7-3 GLVC) for the first time in program history. Tate Petersen scored a season-high 19 points, shooting 5-for-9 (55.6%) from three and Jack Miller scored 15 points, shooting 4-for-7 (57.1%) from three, in Thursday's 83-74 loss.
Petersen scored 10 points in the second half. He added three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Miller scored nine of his points in the second half as well. The sophomore added a team-high four assists and three rebounds.
Cardinal's Justice Sutton scored a game-high 30 points. He was 9-of-16 (56.3%) from the field and 3-of-4 (75%) from beyond the arc. The guard also had 13 rebounds on the night. Issac Patterson had 19 points, knocking down all of his three of his 3-pointers.
UIU shot 25-of-67 (37.3%) from the floor, the team's second-lowest mark of the season. Comparatively, William Jewell shot 32-of-56 (57.1%) from the field, its third-highest shooting day of the season.
Upper Iowa struggled early in the game, allowing William Jewell to jump out to a 16-10 lead with 11:42 left in the first half. A minute later, guard Ashton Jermain buried a 3-pointer off a Peacock turnover to increase the lead to nine.
Miller answered the bell for Upper Iowa, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers on the next two possessions. This sparked a 17-4 run over the next four minutes, giving UIU a 27-23 lead. Tate Petersen scored six points during this run, while Trey Lewis scored five points.
William Jewell then scored 11 unanswered points over the next two minutes to take the 34-27 lead. The Cardinals controlled the last three minutes of the half. Tate Petersen hit a 3-pointer off an Austin Hilmer assist to cut the Peacocks' halftime deficit to 41-35.
William Jewell extended its lead to 11 with 17:34 to go in the second half. Over the next minute and a half, Miller made six of Upper Iowa's next nine points to cut the deficit to 48-46.
However, on the following possession, the Cardinal's Bradley Lightbourne scored a layup to extend the lead. Later in the half, Patterson made a turnaround jump shot to increase the lead to 57-47 with 11:28 to go.
Petersen and Lewis hit back-to-back 3-pointers, cutting the lead to 71-70. That was as close as Upper Iowa would get, as UIU shot 1-of-6 (16.7%) from the field the rest of the way. Justice Sutton scored 14 of the Cardinals' final 26 points to seal the 83-74 win.
Lewis scored 17 points, going 7-for-7 from the free-throw line. The senior added two assists, two steals and a rebound. Hrncir had 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Cael Reichter recorded two points and a team-high nine rebounds. Zach Erwin scored four points, Eric Kenesie scored three points and Anton Fontin scored two points.
Hrncir and Lewis are both now less than 50 points away from scoring 1000 career points. Hrncir's at 953 and Lewis is at 957.
The Peacocks shot 13-of-34 (38.2%) from 3-point range and 11-of-16 (68.8%) from the charity stripe. William Jewell was 8-of-18 (44.4%) from three and 11-of-13 (84.6%) from the free throw line.
The Cardinals led the game for 34:12. UIU was outrebounded by William Jewell, 38-30, and outscored them in the paint, 44-24. There was a total of 32 fouls in the game, split at 16 apiece per team.
The Peacocks attempt a bounce-back win on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Rockhurst (Mo.) (13-5, 7-3 GLVC). On Thursday, the Hawks beat Lewis (Ill.) (4-13, 2-7 GLVC), 96-68.
