ST. PAUL, Minn. - Coming off of an 0-2 road trip and their lowest offensive total of the season, the Concordia University men's basketball team (9-11, 6-10 NSIC) rebounded with a 79-73 win over Upper Iowa (7-13, 4-12) on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center. Concordia used a season-high 51 rebounds and a 20-12 edge in second chance scoring to work their way past the Peacocks. BOX SCORE
Concordia's three seniors, Brent Barz (Johnston, Iowa), Kenny and Peter Olafeso (St. Paul, Minn.) all had 11 rebounds to pace the Golden Bears on the glass. The trio actually finished just six rebounds shy of the entire Peacock lineup.
The Olafeso twins each had double-doubles, with Kenny picking up his team-high fourth of the season with 18 points along with five assists. Kenny was 7-10 from the floor and had six offensive rebounds.
Peter, meanwhile, had his first double-double of the year and was perhaps the top performer of the night with 24 points while also adding five assists to just one turnover. He shot 9-17 from the field, 2-4 from three-point range and made all four of his free throws.
The duo also connected for a highlight-reel first half fastbreak alley-oop, as Peter flipped it to Kenny for the two-handed slam.
Barz struggled from the floor to 3-14 shooting and six points but made up for it with five blocked shots, three assists and two steals as he contributed in all other areas.
The game featured seven total ties and two lead changes, but six of the ties and both lead changes occurred before halftime. Upper Iowa pulled ahead 16-10 around the midway point of the first half on a layup by Mike Lafrenz as he single-handedly went on an 11-2 run for the Peacocks, scoring eight straight points in the process.
Lafrenz finished with 13 points despite the strong start.
But the Golden Bears roared back with six straight points by P.Olafeso that spurred a 9-0 run and Concordia would not trail again on the night.
The Peacocks did force three more ties, though, at 19, 23 and again at 37 in the second half. But Concordia responded to the two first half ties by scoring on the next possession and getting a stop defensively. In the second half tie at 37-37 with around 15 minutes to play, they didn't score but forced a Peacock miss with K.Olafeso finishing in the lane to take the 39-37 lead with 14:20 to play.
A few possessions later, Concordia used a 10-0 run to take the game's largest lead, 49-39 with under 12 minutes to play. The run was highlighted with back-to-back three-pointers by young guards Cordell Smith (Mequon, Wis.) and Terez Van Pelt (Osseo, Minn.).
Upper Iowa clawed back and even had a chance to tie, missing a three-pointer by Joey Woods with 9:12 to play that would have tied the score at 53 while at the other end Smith knocked down his second three-pointer of the night to push the lead back to six.
Smith finished with 12 points off the bench in 22 minutes of high-energy effort.
Concordia was able to keep the lead between four and eight points until the closing seconds of play when Upper Iowa threatened.
Concordia pushed the lead back to nine, 73-64 with just 28 seconds left. But a three-pointer by UIU's Bo Pagel, a turnover by Concordia and a layup by Woods cut the margin down to four, 73-69 with 17 seconds still to play.
Junior Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) made a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left but Woods attacked the rim quickly, finished and made a free throw to cut the score back to three again, 75-72 with just nine seconds left.
Thomas made two more free throws with eight seconds to go and the Peacocks' converted a layup with two seconds left but P.Olafeso made two more at the line with one second on the clock as the Golden Bears made their final six free throws to help seal the narrow win.
Concordia finished the night 14-18 at the line, made 42.6% from the floor and buried seven of their 18 three-pointers. They kept the Peacocks off the stripe with just 10 free throw attempts (7-10) and held them to 40.8% shooting and 5-17 three-point shooting.
Upper Iowa was led by Tucker Wentzien's 17 points and 10 rebounds but he shot just 7-18 on the night. Sam Elgin added 15 points and eight rebounds along with five assists in a solid performance. Elgin shot 6-8 from the floor and committed just one turnover in 31 minutes. Three other Peacocks scored seven points.
The Golden Bears return to the floor tomorrow evening when they host fourth-ranked Winona State at 6:00 p.m. The Warriors defeated #20 St. Cloud State on the road tonight and have now won nine straight games, a streak that started with their 70-66 win over Concordia in Winona, Minn. on January 7th. Concordia has never defeated Winona State in St. Paul in 14 prior meetings (0-13 at Gangelhoff Center).
