FAYETTE, Iowa – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (2-5, 0-2 NSIC) was unable to dig themselves out of an early hole as they fell to Upper Iowa (5-3, 2-0 NSIC) 82-67 on Thursday night at Dorman Memorial Gymnasium.
 
The Golden Bears fell to 15-23 in the all-time series as the Peacocks picked up their ninth win in 18 meetings in Fayette.
 
Antwan Kimmons put together another impressive game as he paced all players in the contest with 25 points. The NSIC's leading scorer added a team-high 10 rebounds to finish with his first double-double of the season. He connected on 11-21 from the floor (52.4 percent) while dishing out two assists..
 
Marcus Skeete finished in double figures for the third straight game as he scored 13 points on 5-11 shooting and 2-3 from deep. The sophomore forward also pulled down six rebounds and led the team with three assists.
 
Caden Hoffman added 12 points on 3-6 from the floor and 2-5 from beyond the arc while Ian Sluice tallied seven points, four rebounds and a steal.
 
The Peacocks connected on an efficient 51.6% (33-64) from the field compared to a 43.3% (26-60) mark for the Golden Bears while they also utilized a 18-8 edge points off turnovers in the win.
 
The duo of Dylan Jones and Nick Reid combined for 41 points for UIU as Jones finished with 22 points, six rebounds, and four assists while Reid had 18 points and seven rebounds.
 
It was a back and forth to start the game with seven lead changes in the first 11 minutes. After a Sunday John made jumper with nine minutes left in the half gave the Golden Bears a 27-26 lead, the Peacocks would take it back just 24 seconds later and never give it up. UIU used runs of 14-4 and 11-5 to build a 13 point advantage at the end of the first half. 

Kimmons cut the lead to 11 early in the second half at 56-45 before a 16-3 run from the Peacocks put the game out of reach with a 21 point deficit. Upper Iowa took their largest lead a few minutes later on a three point play by Reid to make it 77-52. A 15-5 Golden Bear run over the final six minutes led by Kimmons and Skeete would make the game respectable as the Peacocks cruised to a 82-67 win.
 
Concordia will look to claim their first conference win this weekend as they return home to take on the Winona State Warriors (5-2, 0-2 NSIC) on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.