FAYETTE, Iowa - Concordia-St. Paul (1-8, 0-3 NSIC) made nearly twice as many shots as Upper Iowa (7-5, 1-3 NSIC) in the second half on Friday night, trimming a 23-point deficit to just four before falling short 85-75 in the end at Dorman Gymnasium.

The Golden Bears fell behind 53-30 early in the second half with 18:19 to play as the Peacocks used a 17-4 surge late in the first half and early in the second.

Concordia started whittling away at the lead, taking a 55-34 deficit with just over 16 minutes to play with a 14-4 four minute surge as five different players scored to cut it to 59-48.

The Peacocks responded on their home court and pushed the lead back to 18 (68-50) nearing the midway point of the half.

The Bears turned the tables on a momentum dunk by Evan Wesenberg on a feed from Bryndan Matthews.

It was fitting that it was the Wesenberg-Matthews duo teamed up on the game's biggest momentum play for Concordia. Wesenberg was 7-8 from the floor for 18 points in an efficient performance in 15 minutes off the bench. He added five rebounds and was perfect on four foul shots.

Matthews, meanwhile, turned in a strong 20-10 double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds including seven on the offensive glass. He made 6-of-8 at the line and posted a 5-0 assist-turnover ratio.

The Matthews to Wesenberg dunk started a 14-0 run over another strong four minute stretch of basketball that trimmed the UIU lead to 68-64 with 6:15 to play in the contest.

Wesenberg scored four and Matthews six while Brandon McRoy closed out the run with a pair of buckets. McRoy finished with nine points and five rebounds off the bench.

But just like after the 14-4 run earlier in the half, the Peacocks broke out of CSP's 14-0 run with a counterpunch, this time scoring seven in a row to push the lead back to 11 points with under five minutes to play.

From there, the Bears weren't able to get closer than seven.

The Peacocks were exceptional at the foul line, making 17-of-19 in the second half and 19-of-21 for the game. That helped offset Concordia's team defense that held UIU to 30 percent (9-30) second half shooting after the Peacocks scorched the Dorman Gym nets to a 62.5 percent (20-32) tune in building the 18-point halftime lead (46-28).

Concordia countered UIU's 9-30 second half shooting by making 17-37 - making eight more shots and attempting seven more. Offensive rebounding played a role, with CSP producing an 18-15 advantage and more importantly turning it into a 27-15 edge in second chance scoring.

The Golden Bears also had the advantage on the night in turnovers, committing just 10 while forcing 13.

Concordia also had an advantage with its depth, as the Bears' bench outscored UIU's 35-16.

Munachiso Okonkwo led five Peacocks in double-figures with 19 points and added eight rebounds before fouling out in 31 minutes. He made 9-12 from the field. Carson Parker added 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists while making 5-7 from the floor.