WINONA, Minn. – Junior Kyle Bauman scored a career-high 25 points to lead the Winona State men's basketball team to an 81-65 win over Upper Iowa Saturday afternoon in McCown Gym.
Bauman, who surpassed his previous career-best of 21 points set on a pair of occasions, hit 10-of-17 shots from the floor, including a 3-for-5 effort from 3-point range along with eight rebounds, a block and a steal. The big man has now knocked down 12 of his 17 3-point attempts on the season.
The Warriors, winners of four of their last five games overall and 17 of the past 19 at home, used stingy defense as the Peacocks made just 25.4 percent of their shots (17-of-67), the worst shooting percentage by an NSIC team this season. WSU, meanwhile, shot a respectable 48.1 percent (25-of-52) and hit 8-of-16 3-pointers. Upper Iowa made nine 3-pointers, but attempted 40 shots from behind the arc.
Upper Iowa had an early 7-5 lead on a jumper from Josh Weeber three minutes into the game, but Bauman hit the first of his three 3-pointers on the other end to give WSU an 8-7 advantage and the Peacocks would never lead again. A 9-1 run ending in a Bauman layup pushed WSU's lead to 17-9 near the midway point of the first half, but an 8-0 UIU counter attack tied it back up at 17-17 just three minutes later. That turned right into another 8-0 WSU run as Tommy Gathje, Corey Jeffs and Riley Bambenek combined for five free throws before Charlie Koontz converted a 3-point play to stake WSU to a 25-17 lead. WSU would go into halftime with the same size lead, as a Mark Blacklock layup to end the half gave the Warriors a 32-24 lead.
Kyle Bauman's second 3-pointer of the day right out of the break put WSU up double digits for the first time at 35-24, but the game of runs would surface again. A 13-2 UIU spurt capped off with back-to-back 3s from Carson Parker tied it back up at 37-37, but a 3-pointer and jumper from Bambenek and a Bauman jumper turned it into an 8-0 run and WSU moved back in front 45-37 with 14:26 to play.
A traditional 3-point play from Gathje pushed WSU's lead back to double digits again at 52-42 and soon after a Blacklock 3-pointer kickstarted a 10-0 run to put the Warriors up by 17, 62-45, with 9:10 to play. UIU cut the lead back to 10 with 6:20 to play, but Bauman's third and final 3-pointer stopped an 8-0 run and the Peacocks' chances of threatening. Bauman would later hit a pair of free throws with under a minute left to extend the lead to its largest of the game at 81-62 before settling for the 81-65 win.
Bambenek added 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers, four rebounds and two assists. Corey Jeffs finished with nine points and five rebounds.
Winona State (5-5, 4-2 NSIC) returns to McCown Gym after the holiday break when it hosts Northern State and MSU Moorhead on Saturday, January 2 and Sunday, January 3.
