FAYETTE, Iowa. - Peacock men's basketball (13-6, 8-4 GLVC) dropped its third straight game, 86-74, to Southwest Baptist (Mo.) (11-9, 5-7 GLVC) on Thursday. Trey Lewis led Upper Iowa in scoring with 18 points.
Lewis scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half. The senior added four rebounds and three assists on the night. Lewis is now 10 points away from 1000 career points.
Jevin Sullivan led SBU in scoring with 23 points, shooting 7-of-9 (77.8%) from the field and 9-of-10 (90%) from the charity stripe. He also had a team-high nine rebounds, four assists and drew eight fouls.
The Bearcats jumped out to an early 16-3 lead with 12:15 left in the first half. During that stretch, SBU was 7-for-9 (77.8%) from the field, missing only two 3-point attempts. UIU was 1-for-9 (11.1%) from the floor and 0-of-4 from beyond the arc.
A minute later, Austin Hilmer knocked down a three from the right wing while drawing a foul from Southwest Baptist's Barron Silsby. He missed the free throw, but Kyle Hrncir secured the rebound and kicked it back out to Hilmer, who popped out to the left wing and drained another three to pull the Peacocks within seven of the Bearcats.
However, SBU built a 21-11 advantage after Zac Reedus scored on a driving layup and converted the and-one with 8:29 remaining. Three minutes later, a pair of free throws by Sullivan gave Southwest Baptist its largest lead of the half at 11.
Upper Iowa cut Southwest Baptist's lead down to 36-30 with 51 seconds left in the first half. This came off a Lewis jumpshot and a Tate Peterson layup. Silsby pushed SBU's halftime lead to nine after converting a 3-pointer 24 seconds later.
The Bearcats didn't cool off after halftime, going 7-for-12 (58%) from the field and 5-for-8 (62.5%) from the free-throw line to take a 58-42 lead with 12:36 left in the game. The Peacocks shot 6-for-14 (42.9%) from the floor and were 0-of-4 from three during that span. Cael Reichter scored eight of UIU's 12 points during that span.
Six minutes later, Jack Miller ignited the last Peacock run with a four-point play, knocking down a three from the top of the key off a pass from Hrncir, cutting the lead to 62-53. One minute later, Lewis buried a three off a feed from Miller, pulling Upper Iowa within six. The surge continued when Reichter attacked the rim and converted an and-one, trimming SBU's lead to 69-66 with three minutes left in the game.
Southwest Baptist increased its lead back to five after Reedus made a layup 18 seconds later. With one second left on the shot clock on an inbounds play, Ogle iced the game banking in a deep 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer to lead, 74-66. Gayman and Reedus each scored six of the Bearcats' last 12 points to beat the Peacocks, 86-74.
Reichter recorded 12 points, all in the second half, with three rebounds and a block. Miller had 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Ashton Hermann posted seven points, an assist and a rebound.
Hrncir scored seven points and hauled in seven rebounds. He led the team in assists with five and steals with three. The Farmington, Minnesota native also drew a team-high seven fouls.
The Peacocks finished 28-for-71 (39.4%) from the field, 6-for-28 (21.4%) from behind the 3-point line and 12-for-22 (54.5%) from the free-throw line. The Bearcats were 27-of-47 (57.4%) from the floor, 3-of-14 (21.4%) from three and 29-of-34 (85.3%) on free throw attempts.
Upper Iowa led Southwest Baptist, 14-2, in second-chance points and 21-9 in bench points. On the flipside, the Bearcats led the Peacocks, 44-36, in points scored in the paint. UIU had 16 turnovers to SBU's seven.
Southwest Baptist led Upper Iowa 38-36 in rebounds. UIU led SBU, 16-5, in offensive rebounds. There was a total of 23 fouls, 16 for the Peacocks and seven for the Bearcats.
UIU looks to snap its three-game losing streak on Saturday against Drury (Mo.) (10-10, 5-7 GLVC). The Panthers have won two straight games including their most recent, 75-66, in a win over Lewis (Ill.) (4-15, 2-9 GLVC) on Thursday night.
