Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. – What a difference a day makes.

Less than 24 hours after treading rough waters in a 75-56 conference loss to Winona State, the Northern State Wolves fired back with a convincing 92-75 victory over the visiting Upper Iowa University Peacocks Sunday evening, picking up their first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win in the process.

The Wolves drained 58.3 percent of their shots (35-for-60) in the win, a stark contrast to their 33.9 percent effort just one day prior.  NSU also dominated the inside portion of the game, scoring 48 points in the paint to UIU's 24, and converted 22 Peacock turnovers into 36 total points.

With the victory, the Wolves improved to 5-8 on the season and 1-5 in league action.  UIU, meanwhile, slipped to 6-7 overall and an even 3-3 in the conference.  The Peacocks had entered the weekend on a 4-game win streak, but dropped both of their road NSIC games this weekend.

The Wolves, who gave up a big run to open last night's contest, reversed roles on Sunday, opening up a 10-2 lead in the game's first five minutes before stretching it to a 27-10 edge by the midway point of the half.

But the Wolves weren't done.  From there, NSU ripped off a 17-4 run – aided in part by four Peacock turnovers – to go up 44-16 with just under five minutes left in the stanza to put themselves firmly in the driver's seat for the remainder of the night.

The Peacocks were led by a game-high 21 points from junior Matt Lesan, who drained a trio of 3-pointers late in the game to help bring UIU back to within 17 in the closing moments.  Mike Lafrenz added 12, while Keith Steffeck chipped in 14 off the bench.

NSU junior Derek Hoellein paced the Wolves with 20 points on 6 of 12 shooting from long range.  Freshman big man Marko Filipovic added a career high 15 points off the bench to go along with six rebounds and four assists.  Filipovic showed off his passing skills in the post position throughout the night, feeding redshirt freshman Collin Pryor – who also finished with 15 points – for several easy buckets.

Alex Thomas also reached the double figure threshold with 11 points and had three of the Wolves' 12 steals as a team.

The Wolves will look to continue their strong play next weekend, as they go back on the road for another NSIC game at the University of Mary.  The road has not been kind to the Wolves, who are 0-6 this season in road or neutral site games.  Game time for Saturday's game is set for 8 p.m.