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Feb. 10, 2008
The UIU men's basketball team played at Wayne State on Saturday night in their last regular season meeting with the NSIC foe. Upper Iowa took a 40-27 lead into the locker room at halftime, but the Wildcats stormed back over the final ten minutes of the game to erase a thirteen point deficit. The Peacocks took a one-point lead with a three-pointer with 28 seconds to play, but a Wildcat putback with 7 seconds remaining gave Wayne State the victory as Upper Iowa was unable to get a final shot off. The Wildcats improved to 9-6 in league play and 14-10 overall, while Upper Iowa slipped to 6-17 overall and 5-9 in the NSIC. Upper Iowa raced out of the gates and took a 20-8 lead over the opening ten minutes of the half. Freshman Matt Lesan led the Peacock run with 10 points in the opening minutes. Wayne State was able to cut the lead to 25-22 with 6:04 to play in the half as they outscored the Peacocks 14-5 to climb back into the game. Upper Iowa would not let the momentum switch hands. The visitors finished the half by extending their lead from three to thirteen points by outscoring the home team 15-5. The teams went to the locker rooms with Upper Iowa leading 40-27. The teams played evenly through the first ten minutes of the second half as Upper Iowa maintained their double digit lead. With 10:36 on the clock, the Peacocks led the Wildcats 57-44. From that point forward, Wayne State rallied back into the game by outscoring Upper Iowa 20-7 over the next eight and a half minutes. The Wildcats took their first lead of the night at 66-64 with 38 seconds left following a WSC lay up. Upper Iowa's Neil Gross then canned a three-pointer on the next possession with 28 seconds on the clock giving the Peacocks a 67-66 lead. On the Wildcats final possession, Iowa-native Jonathon Thomas grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with 7 seconds left to put Wayne State back in front 68-67. Upper Iowa was unable to attempt a final shot and lost the heartbreaker. Gross and Lesan scored 15 points apiece to lead Upper Iowa and Jude Roybal netted 10 points and dished out five assists. The Peacocks finished the night shooting 40% (20-50) from the field, after finishing the first half with a 52% (14-27) from the floor. UIU hit 12 of 20 three-point shots and 15 of their 22 free throw attempts. Upper Iowa out rebounded Wayne State 35-27 as Gross grabbing eight boards to lead the Peacocks. Upper Iowa will return to Dorman Gym next weekend for their final home games of the regular season. The Peacocks will face the Dragons of Minnesota State Moorhead on Friday, Feb. 15, and the #5 Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday, Feb. 16. Both games are set to tip off at 6:00 p.m. |
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