BOX SCORE

MARSHALL, Minn. - Upper Iowa shot 55 percent from the field, including 64 percent in the second half, to stun Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday night with a 96-75 victory at the R/A Facility.

It's the first-ever victory for UIU over SMSU in nine games played in Marshall and comes after SMSU defeated No. 16 Winona State last night in Marshall. The 96 points scored by UIU is the most by an SMSU opponent this season.

Grant Lang led four UIU players in double figures with 17 points, while Joey Woods added 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

William Giddings paced SMSU with a career-high 21 points and eight rebounds. He connected on 7 of 10 field goals and made four 3-pointers. Vinard Birch added 15 points, while Joey Bartlett chipped in with 13 points and seven rebounds. UIU held SMSU's leading scorer Nick Smith, to just four points on 2 of 5 shooting.

UIU finished the game making 33 of 60 shots, including 8 of 14 from 3-point range. The Peacocks were a perfect 5 of 5 from 3-point range in the second half. SMSU finished the night shooting 45 percent (25 of 56) from the field. It was SMSU's lowest shooting performance since shooting 38 percent at Winona State on Dec. 14. SMSU held a 33-32 rebound margin, but committed 18 turnovers. UIU held a 22-14 advantage in points off of turnovers, while the UIU bench outscored SMSU's bench 44-14.

UIU played a solid first half jumping out to a 19-7 lead in the first seven and a half minutes of the game. SMSU closed the deficit to 21-16 in the next two minutes highlighted by a 3-pointer by William Giddings and back-to-back field goals by Matt Zager.

The Peacocks extended the lead to nine points on two more occasions, including 32-23 with 5:16 remaining, before the Mustang put together a 6-0 run with a layup by Mitch Weg and two free throws each by Giddings and Vinard Birch to cut the lead to 32-29 with three minutes left in the half.

UIU, which never trailed in the opening half, answered with the final four points to take a 38-30 advantage into the halftime break.

SMSU shot just 39 percent (10 of 26) in the first half and committed 11 turnovers. UIU finished the first half shooting 49 percent (17 of 35) and committed just four turnovers.

UIU scored the first two points of the second half to build a 40-30 lead, but SMSU answered with a 7-1 spurt to cut the UIU lead to 41-37 with 17:50 left in the game. UIU maintained a 47-39 lead following a pair of Birch free throws with 16:58 on the clock, before putting together the game-changing run to put the game away.

UIU's Josh Weeber began the key stretch with a 3-pointer with 16 minutes left, which started a 15-4 run over the next over the next four and a half minutes to build a 67-47 lead.

SMSU would make one final push, cutting the deficit to 75-64 with a Birch field goal with 6:55 remaining, and had two chances to trim the deficit to single digits, but a missed 3-pointer and a turnover on SMSu's next two possessions kept UIU with a double digit lead. The Peacocks then made three free throws to extend the lead to 78-64 and never looked back.

Southwest Minnesota State hits the road next weekend with a pair games versus Wayne State and Augustana. SMSU and WSC tip-off on Friday night starting at 8 p.m. in Wayne, Neb.