BY: Steven Wilson - Graduate Assistant, Sports Information
Box Score
Upper Iowa could not have started Friday night’s game against visiting Wayne State College any better. The Peacock defense held the Wildcats scoreless for the first five and a half minutes and held tight throughout the night, while the UIU offense matched a season-high output with 77 points. Combined, the two resulted in a 77-56 victory over the Wildcats at Dorman Gym to give UIU a 4-0 start in conference play.
“It was a good win,” head coach Brian Dolan said. “We controlled it from the beginning, but I hesitate to say dominant.”
In a game where UIU never trailed, the Peacocks received contributions on the offensive side of the ball from ten different scorers, four of which finished with double-digits.
“Besides the first two minutes of each half, I thought our guys executed really well for 36 minutes,” Dolan said. “We had a lot of energy off the bench and our intensity level was there and that’s what we were preaching to them all week – it’s just nice to see them come through.”
Senior wing Sam Elgin missed his first three shots, but shook the nerves off and scored a team-high 11 points in the first half.
At the 10:26 mark, Elgin went to his post-arsenal and drew a Wildcat foul off a power move in the paint. He hit one-of-two to give UIU a 16-7 lead early in the game.
Sophomore guard Bo Pagel backed-up Elgin’s early play with back-to-back buckets with less than five minutes left in the first half. His second bucket was a three from downtown and gave UIU a 28-17 lead. Pagel had eight points on 3-of-6 shooting after one half of play.
The lethal combination of Pagel, Elgin and guard Jake Hughes, who had nine points in the first half, led to UIU’s largest lead at halftime this season, 38-26. Despite their 12-point lead at the break, the Peacocks kept up their intensity on both sides of the ball in the second half.
“We have five seniors that are playing, we ought to be able to handle a lead,” Dolan said bluntly after the game.
Down by double-digits, WSC switched to a 1-3-1 zone which confused UIU at times. The Wildcats cut the Peacocks lead to eight three different times in the second half, the last coming with 13 minutes left in the game. But UIU held strong and responded with strong passing and easy buckets, in large part due to a fresh face in the Peacock lineup.
Freshman Jordan Hay earned significant playing time in both the first and second periods and didn’t waste any time making his presence felt. The 6-foot-6 Stanwood, Iowa native earned one of his four total assists as he found Grant Lang under the basket for an easy hoop, then he nailed a hook-shot from eight-feet out to put UIU back up by 12.
A play later, Hay found Pagel open from behind the three-point line and Pagel drained the 3 to put UIU up, 56-41.
The defense did the rest.
UIU held Wayne State’s leading scorer Amry Shelby to just two points on 1-of-2 shooting, and allowed just six second-chance points from the Wildcats offense. The Peacocks also outscored WSC 38-24 inside the key, with a combined 15 points coming from Tucker Wentzien and Jake Shonka.
Overall, the Peacocks outrebounded WSC 39-27, including 11-8 in the offensive rebounding category. The Peacock offense tied a season-high with 15 assists, while they only turned the ball over 13 times.
Elgin led UIU in scoring with 17 points, while Pagel finished with 14, Hughes totaled 11 and Wentzien had 10. Hay led UIU with four assists, while Pagel, Elgin and Lang each dished out three.
LaTroy Wright led WSC in scoring with 17 total points, six of which came from the charity stripe on eight chances. No other Wildcat scored in double-digits.
The Peacocks will now try to keep their 4-0 conference record alive against Augustana Saturday night in Fayette. The Vikings entered the weekend a perfect 7-0, but fell to Winona State, 70-56 on Friday night in Winona, Minnesota.
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