KENOSHA, Wis. - The Davenport University men's basketball team trailed Upper Iowa by only seven, 50-43, with just over 14 minutes left to play in the game on Friday night before the Peacocks used a 17-3 run over the next five minutes to go up by 21, 67-46. From there until the final buzzer, the closest the Panthers could get was 17 and that came in the final score, 84-67. Davenport falls to 2-1 on the young season while Upper Iowa remains undefeated at 3-0.

Jairus Stevens led the Panthers with 13 points while Chris Rollins added 12 and Noble Cooper chipped in 10, a Davenport high for the redshirt junior. Luke Maranka brought down eight rebounds, Jarrin Randall dished out four assists, Marcedus Leech Jr. and Jaylen Hodges each had a block, and Jeff Carrier recorded a pair of steals.

Davenport took its final lead of the game, 9-8, at the 15:10 mark of the first half when Jakub Dombek made a layup and the Panthers then pushed their lead to three at 11-8 and 13-10. The Peacocks took the advantage back, though, and led by as many as 10, 27-17, before heading into the locker room for halftime up six, 39-33. Out of the break, Upper Iowa kept the pressure on and eventually took all of the momentum with the 17-3 stretch.

Upper Iowa made six more three-pointers than Davenport while outscoring the Panthers 16-4 in paint scoring and 19-7 in fast-break points. Jareese Williams and Joe Smoldt paced the Peacocks with 23 points apiece and Jake Hilmer added 12.

Next up on the schedule, Davenport will face another Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe, Southwest Minnesota State, on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler