Oct. 31, 2009

The Upper Iowa Peacock men's basketball team opened its 2009-10 exhibition season Saturday afternoon as they travelled to Cedar Falls, Iowa for a Halloween matchup with the Division I Panthers of Northern Iowa. For Upper Iowa, the game marked the first of two exhibition meetings with Division I opponents and the second matchup with the Panthers since transitioning to the NCAA Division II ranks.

UNI rushed out to a 24-9 lead with 4:30 left to play in the first half before a three-point basket by freshman Jake Hughes and a pair of points in the paint by Alex Kramer narrowed the margin to 24-14 with just over three minutes to play before halftime.

But the Panthers would go on a 12-5 run over the final three minutes in the first half to take a 36-19 lead heading into the locker rooms.

Upper Iowa stormed out following the halftime break and went on a quick 12-2 run thanks in part to back-to-back three's from Keith Steffeck and Matt Lesan to narrow the UNI lead to 38-31 with just over 15 minutes left to play in the game.

But the Panthers tightened up their defense in the final 15 minutes and held UIU to just eight points the rest of the way as the home team secured a 67-39 victory.

Hughes paced the Peacocks with nine points while Lesan dropped in seven. As a team, Upper Iowa shot 31.9% for the contest, while the Panthers shot an impressive 48% whick included a 41.7% clip from beyond the three-point arc.

Upper Iowa will play its next exhibition contest next Saturday evening, Nov. 7 when they visit the Knapp Center in Des Moines to battle the Bulldogs of Drake University. Tip off for the Peacocks and Bulldogs is set for 7:05 p.m.