Fayette, IA – The No. 5 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs traveled to face off against the No. 16 Upper Iowa Peacocks on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs defense struggled to get stops down the stretch as they dropped their first game of the season 94-85. The Bulldogs record moves to 16-1 on the season.
 
The first half started out with both teams trading baskets to begin the game. Neither team could pull away early as teams were tied up at 10-10 with 15:12 left in the half. From there, the Peacocks started to pull ahead as they jumped out to a 21-14 lead with 10:16 left in the first half. The Peacocks continued to lead in the first half as they lead by as many as 13 points in the first half. The Bulldogs managed to cut into the Peacocks lead late in the first half as they got it to within 4 points. The Peacocks responded however as they managed to stretch their lead out once again as they took a 47-39 halftime lead. The Bulldogs were led by Charlie Katona and Austin Andrews who had 9 points each in the first half. The Bulldogs shot 12-30 (40%) from the field and 4-11 (36.4%) from the three-point line in the first half. UMD also shot 11-15 from the foul line. The Peacocks shot 13-29 (44.8%) from the field and 5-9 (55.6%) from three-point range in the first half. They also shot 16-20 from the foul line.
 
The Bulldogs started the second half hot as they quickly trimmed the Upper Iowa led to 3 points. The Peacocks responded however with a short run of their own to get the lead back up to double digits. The second half looked much like this as the Bulldogs could not break into the Peacocks lead fully. Whenever UMD got it close, Upper Iowa went on a run of their own to get the lead back up. After getting the lead down to just 7 points at 77-70 with 6:07, the Peacocks pulled away once again, this time putting it out of range of a Bulldogs comeback. The Peacocks were hot on the offensive end down the stretch as they took a 91-77 lead with 1:07 remaining in the game. Despite a late comeback attempt from the Bulldogs, it proved to be too late as the Bulldogs dropped their first game of the year 94-85. The Bulldogs shot 16-31 (51.6%) from the field and 4-12 (33.3%) from three-point range in the second half. The Peacocks shot 16-31 (51.6%) from the field and 6-10 (60%) from three-point range. They also shot 9-12 from the foul line.
 
The Bulldogs were led by Charlie Katona who had 20 points on the night. Drew Blair and Austin Andrews both added 17 points on the night while Jack Middleton and Joshua Brown added 16 and 15 points respectively. Andrews had 11 rebounds for another double-double. Andrews also led the team with 5 assists on the night. Overall, the Bulldogs shot 28-61 (45.9%) from the field and 8-23 (34.8%) from three-point range. They also shot 21-26 from the foul line.
 
The Peacocks were led by Jake Hilmer who had 27 points on the night. Joe Smoldt also added 17 points. Lucas Duax led the team with 10 rebounds for a double-double on the night. Smoldt added 7 assists on the night while Hilmer added 6 of his own. Overall, the Peacocks shot 29-60 (28.3%) from the field and 11-19 (57.9%) from three-point range. They also shot 25-32 from the foul line.

Who's Next:
The No. 5 Bulldogs will remain on the road as they travel to face No. 23 Augustana next Friday at 7:30 pm. They will then travel to face off against Wayne State on Saturday at 5:30 PM.