ST. LOUIS, Missouri - Upper Iowa men's basketball (17-11) concluded its season with a 79-67 loss to William Jewell (Mo.) (20-9) on Thursday night. The Cardinals shot 19-of-32 (59.4%) from the field in the second half to outscore the Peacocks, 48-35.
After UIU led 32-31 at halftime, William Jewell started the second half on a 14-2 run with Bradley Lightbourne knocking down two treys and a floating jumper. That helped the Cardinals control the second half, as the closest UIU got was within six points the rest of the way.
Lightbourne totaled 17 points on 7-of-10 (70%) shooting in the second half. The Peacocks shot 11-of-28 (39.3%) in the final 20 minutes while committing nine turnovers that led to 16 WJC points.
In the first half, the Peacocks took an early 15-10 lead after back-to-back 3-pointers by redshirt freshman guard Eric Kenesie. William Jewell then went on a 13-0 run while holding the Peacocks scoreless for 7:20.
That's when Tate Petersen got the scoring rolling again for UIU. He scored nine-straight points, including a four-point play after being fouled on a 3-pointer, putting the Peacocks up 24-23. Back-to-back Trey Lewis layups with a steal by the senior in between them gave UIU a 28-25 advantage, and the team led 32-31 at halftime.
Petersen led the Peacocks with 16 points on 6-of-9 (66.7%) shooting with three rebounds and an assist. He was 3-of-5 (60%) from behind the arc. This was his 15th double-digit game of the season.
Kenesie had a season-high 13 points while shooting 4-of-5 (80%) from the field with three rebounds and a blocked shot. Lewis also scored 13 points with seven coming at the charity stripe. He added a team-high four assists and a team-high four steals.
Kyle Hrncir scored 12 points with six rebounds and three steals. Jack Miller had five points, six rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal. Anton Fontin and Austin Hilmer each had three points. Cael Reichter totaled a team-high seven rebounds while scoring the first bucket of the game.
Justice Sutton led William Jewell with 25 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Lightbourne added 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Cooper Francis came off the bench and scored 13 points.
The Peacocks had 18 turnovers to William Jewell's 12, helping the Cardinals outscore the Peacocks 27-14 off of them. WJC outscored UIU 40-30 in the paint while UIU's bench had a slight 19-16 advantage. The Peacocks outrebounded the Cardinals, 36-31.
William Jewell finished the game 30-of-63 (47.6%) from the field and 10-of-32 (31.3%) from behind the arc. The Peacocks shot 24-of-57 (42.1%) from the field and 8-of-26 (30.8%) on 3-pointers. Both teams totaled 12 fouls.
With the loss, Upper Iowa falls to 2-3 in GLVC Tournament action since joining the conference in 2023-24.
