Winona State University’s men’s basketball had their first taste of losing this season against Upper Iowa with a score of 82–81.

Upper Iowa was on a losing streak going into the match against Winona State. They were behind the entire game but came out strong at the end. On the ending inbounds play and with just five seconds left in the game, WSU’s Owen King latched on to the entry pass and was immediately fouled. King hit one of his two free throws to stretch the Warrior advantage to 81-79. Despite this lead, at the ending moment, with a 3-point shot, Upper Iowa pulled out a victory to end their losing streak. 

Winona State University had their last three wins at away games. The last one was with Purdue Northwest, an aggressive team. The final score of that match was 65–59 with 46 of the Warriors’ points scored in the second half.

Against Purdue Northwest, Winona State University had a good defense with four perfect blocks.

One of the Warriors’ senior player, Owen King, brought back the lead for the team in the second half with a three-pointer, while two rookies, Connor Dillon and Connor Drew, grew the lead.  

Dillon is now seen as a future star in part because of his scoring average of 19 points per match.  He even scored 20 points on Tuesday against Upper Iowa.

After picking up straight wins, Winona State’s men’s basketball team was overconfident at some point. They were so confident that their defense was unbreakable that even the head coach Todd Eisner said, “Defense is always going be our bread and butter, and what we focus on and Purdue Northwest was a really explosive offensive team and so if we defend a high level we have a good chance of winning the game.”

This defensive tactic of Winona State was broken by Upper Iowa with a new tactic. They stayed behind and Winona had confidence that they were doing good. But at the end of the game, Upper Iowa pushed their limits and got the win.

For points, Winona State was mostly dependent on free throws. As a team, Winona State hit 25 of 61 (41.0%) from the floor in the contest. Winona State was 9 for 29 (31.0%) from three-point territory and hit 23 of 26 (83.3%) free throws.

Both teams were decent in the game. They had zero technical fouls and the lead was changed once by each team in the game.

Following the match, the point table brings a slight change as well. With the loss, Winona State moves to 4-1 overall and 0-1 in the NSIC, while Upper Iowa improves to 2-3 overall and a 1-0 league mark. 

Winona State’s next match is on Monday Nov. 28, hosting Viterbo University. The Warriors and V-Hawks will tip off at 7:30 p.m. at McCown Gymnasium, home of WNB Financial Court.