#19 Upper Iowa 79 Wayne State 63

            Wayne State's Men's Basketball team fell to #19 Upper Iowa 79-63 Friday evening in NSIC Men's Basketball South Division action at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. The Wildcats fall to 11-9 overall and 8-6 in NSIC play while the Peacocks improve to 20-3 overall and 14-3 in conference action.
            The Wildcats went 0-11 from downtown in the contest compared to 11-26 (42.3 percent) from Upper Iowa.
            The Peacocks took the first lead of the contest less than a minute into the game and on the next possession the Wildcats tied the game at 2-2 with 18:56 to go before halftime. That would be the only tie of the ballgame as UIU led the rest of the way.
            Wayne State managed to get within one point at 11-10 with 12:41 to play in the first half before Upper Iowa answered back. The Peacocks made a 3-pointer out of the final media timeout of the half to draw their biggest lead of the first 20 minutes at 37-24.
            Wayne State went into halftime trailing by 11 with the score at 41-30. Redshirt freshman guard Justin Eagins had 12 points in the first half to lead WSC in scoring while senior forward Ben Dentlinger led the 'Cats in rebounds with four.
            Upper Iowa pushed the lead to 14 with the score at 48-34 at the 16:08 mark left in the game.
            The lead was as many as 16 in the game as Upper Iowa won the contest 79-63.
            Wayne State shot 39.3 percent from the field (24-61) and made 15 of 15 free throws. Upper Iowa made 50 percent (29-58) from the field and 62.5 percent (10-16) on free throws.
            The 'Cats had 38 rebounds compared to 31 from the Peacocks while UIU had a 9-4 edge in assists.
            Upper Iowa had a 15-7 advantage in fast break points and an 18-2 advantage in bench points. Wayne State outscored Upper Iowa 36-26 in points in the paint and committed six less turnovers 16-10.
            Dentlinger had a double-double, leading WSC in points with 17 and rebounds with 10. Eagins had 14 points while freshman Alec Millender added 12.
            Cody McCullough had eight rebounds for WSC and Millender added six.
            Wayne State is at home again Saturday entertaining Winona State at 5:30 p.m.