FAYETTE - Iowa - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (9-15, 7-13 NSIC) picked up its fifth straight victory by defeating Upper Iowa (17-9, 13-7) 69-67 on the road at Dorman Gymnasium on Saturday night. Concordia's last three wins have been against winning teams: vs. Bemidji State (13-11, 11-9), #15 Winona State (22-5, 16-4) and Upper Iowa with the WSU/UIU games on the road.

Concordia head coach Kelly Boe became the third coach in program history to reach 100 career wins. He's now in his seventh season and holds a 100-90 career record.

The Golden Bears have won six of the past seven games overall as well and have moved into a tie for seventh in the NSIC South Division with next Saturday's regular season finale opponent, Sioux Falls. Prior to that game, Concordia hosts Southwest Minnesota State on Friday night.

The Golden Bears led by two late, 64-62 but missed a pair shots in the lane to extend the lead to two possessions with just under two minutes to play.

Concordia's defense held the Peacocks to an off-balance three-pointer and senior Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) collected the rebound with sophomore Terez VanPelt (Osseo, Minn.) converting on a drive through the lane with 56 seconds to play.

VanPelt was tough to stop down the stretch and led all scorers with 19 points on the night.

Upper Iowa answered back just seven seconds later as Jake Hughes drove the lane and finished the layup to bring it back to a two point game with 49 seconds left.

On Concordia's next possession, VanPelt took the shot clock down and was swarmed by Peacock defenders on the left elbow and forced to the wing near the sideline.

He tossed a pass over the middle to Cole Olstad (Elgin, Minn.) at the top of the key, and with the shot clock winding down, Olstad delivered a strike to senior Nick Mabbutt (Milton Keynes, UK) under the basket for a layup and a foul. Mabbutt converted the free throw with 15 seconds left to give the Golden Bears a 5-point lead.

Upper Iowa made a three-pointer before the buzzer to cut the final margin to two.

Mabbutt finished with 14 points in 16 minutes off the bench, hitting 5-of-8 from the floor and knocking down a pair of three-pointers to stretch the UIU defense.

Olstad's assist late in the game was one of four on the night, as he finished with eight points and tied for the team-high with five rebounds. Olstad also didn't commit any turnovers.

Tying Olstad for the team rebounding lead was junior Cordell Smith (Mequon, Wis.), the seventh straight game he's led the team in rebounding since being inserted as a starter. Smith had 13 points in the game and four of his rebounds were on the offensive end. He shot 5-of-9 from the floor.

Mabbutt wasn't the only post player to score in double-figures as redshirt freshman Mike Yahnke (Delano, Minn.) added 12 points and four rebounds while rejoining the starting five.

Hughes led Upper Iowa with 17 points while Sam Elgin had 14.

Concordia shot 47.4% (27-57) and made 5-of-14 from three-point range. They held UIU to 40.7% (22-54) shooting.

The largest lead of the night was Upper Iowa's eight point lead late in the first half before taking a 33-27 lead into the break. Concordia erased the deficit immediately out of the locker room with eight straight points.

Concordia's largest lead was seven coming down the stretch before UIU closed the gap in the final minutes.

The game featured three ties and five lead changes.