Box Score

FAYETTE, IOWA: Upper Iowa shot 55.6 percent from the field held off a late Southwest Minnesota State charge to earn a huge 76-72 upset victory on Saturday night.  The loss was SMSU's third in a row and drops SMSU to 8-6 overall, 3-3 NSIC.  Upper Iowa with the victory improves to 2-12 overall, 1-4 NSIC.  It was SMSU's third loss in a row that was decided in the final minute of the game. 

SMSU, which never led in the game, trailed 63-50 with 5:30 left in the game but put together a furious rally to nearly tie the game with one minute remaining in the game.  The Mustangs trailed 70-61 with 2:43 before going on an 8-0 run to trim the UIU lead to 70-69 with 56 seconds left as Andrew Peschong hit one of two free throws.  SMSU missed some clutch free throws in the final two minutes which turned out to be very costly.

Leading 70-69, UIU had the ball with 40 seconds left in the game and missed a field goal, but the Peacocks grabbed the offensive rebound and forced SMSU to foul with 25 seconds left.  After UIU hit two free throws to push the lead to 72-69, SMSU's Ryan Krome attempted to tie the game with a three-pointer with 17 seconds left but the shot missed and UIU snared the rebound to secure the victory with two free throws with 14 seconds left.

Mustang senior Matt Fletcher finished with a season-high 24 points connecting on four three-pointers and in the process became the school's all-time three-point field goals made leader with 269.  He passes Adam Tesch who made 268 from 1998-2001.

Upper Iowa finished the game outrebounding Southwest Minnesota State 33-24.  It was the second straight game SMSU has been outrebounded by its opponent.

Travis Krenske added 17 points for SMSU, which forced 21 UIU turnovers which led to 26 points for the Mustang offense. 

Upper Iowa played a solid first half building a 15-8 lead with 12 minutes left in the half before the Mustangs rallied with an eight-point run to tie the game at 15-15 with 9:31 left on a pair of Kevin Andrews free throws.  UIU would take a four-point 34-30 halftime lead after shooting 54.2 percent from the field including hitting on 5 of 9 three-pointers.  SMSU shot just 37 percent from the field in the first half and was just 3 of 9 from behind the arc.

Upper Iowa's Jude Roybal led the Peacocks with 22 points.

Southwest Minnesota State will conclude its four-game road trip and look to end its three-game losing streak next Saturday, Jan. 12 at Wayne State in Wayne, Neb.