MOORHEAD, Minn. – A three-pointer in the final seconds was the difference as the No. 13 Upper Iowa men's basketball team edged Minnesota State University Moorhead, 66-63 in a hard-fought Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contest Saturday at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead.
MSUM fell to 10-9 overall and 5-5 in the NSIC with the loss while Upper Iowa improved to 17-3 overall and 11-3 in the league.
Senior forward
Gatdoar Kueth led the way for MSUM with 15 points, while junior guard
Lorenzo McGhee added 13 and junior guard
Gavin Baumgartner added 10.
Junior forward
Jaden Stanley-Williams had eight rebounds while Baumgarter had two assists. McGhee led with three steals.
MSUM shot 42.6 percent (26-of-61) compared to 48.3 percent (28-of-58) for the Peacocks. MSUM had a 37-32 edge in rebounds.
The game was close the whole way with the biggest lead for either team being seven points. There were 12 lead changes and six ties.
MSUM was down 63-58 with 1:21 left but cut the lead to three on a McGhee basket. The Dragons got a stop on their next possession, and junior guard
Bryce Irsfeld drained a three to tie the game at 63-63 with 16 seconds left.
Upper Iowa's Joe Smoldt hit a three with 0.5 seconds left to put the Peacocks ahead 66-63, and the Dragon couldn't get off a desperation heave before time expired and ended up three points short.
The Peacocks held a slim 36-35 halftime lead. Kueth had nine first-half points for MSUM on 4-of-5 shooting. The first half saw 12 lead changes alone.
The Dragons were down 44-37 at one point but their defense kept things close. The five straight points from McGhee and Irsfeld resulted in the first tie of the second half with 16 seconds left; moments later Smoldt hit the winning three.
Sophomore forward
Dane Zimmer had seven rebounds for MSUM.
MSUM is at Minnesota State, Mankato on Jan. 28 to start a stretch of four straight road games.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game
Tonight's defeat was the first at home to the Fighting Peacocks since their 109-107 overtime victory on Jan. 31, 2014, ending a Dragon's winning streak of three.
