The Peacock men’s basketball team welcomed the Golden Eagles of Minnesota, Crookston to Dorman as the home team looked to complete a weekend sweep in Fayette. UMC stifled the Upper Iowa offense in the first half with physical defense and took a seventeen point lead midway through the second half, but the home team clawed back and hit a game-tying three to send the game into overtime. The Golden Eagles owned the overtime though outscoring the Peacocks 14-7 to win the game by a 73-66 final count.

 

Upper Iowa led 8-6 as the teams exchanged baskets in the early going, but Minnesota, Crookston used a 14-0 run that took nearly six minutes off the clock, to claim a 20-8 advantage. UIU closed the gap to four, 20-16, with an 8-0 run fueled by four points from Jake Hughes. UMC wouldn’t let the momentum turn for long as they outscored their hosts 12-7 over the final minutes to take a 32-23 lead into the locker room at half.

 

The visitors outshot Upper Iowa 48% to 26% in the opening half and doubled the number of made field goals. UIU was led by Matt Lesan’s 7 points and Cedric Collins’ 6 rebounds. Sam Elgin came off the bench to score 3 and added an assist and 2 offensive rebounds.

 

Thanks to a 10-1 run to open the half, the home team climbed back in and got within three, 36-33, just four minutes into the second stanza. The Golden Eagles took control of the next four minutes outscoring UIU 16-2 while forcing four Peacock turnovers during the run. Upper Iowa slowly chipped away at the lead as they picked up their defense and hit three trifectas to cut the margin back to six, 54-48, with just under eight minutes to play.

 

The offenses for both teams struggled through the next several minutes, but Upper Iowa kept scratching at the deficit. A Dan Bestul jumper pulled the home team within two, 56-54, as the clock showed 3:41. Neither team scored until Lesan drove to the basket and tied the game at 56-56 with 1:03 to play. Eric Dearden gave the Golden Eagles a 58-56 lead as he converted both ends of a one and one and Trent Graves added one more to put the road team up three with 11 seconds to play.

 

Upper Iowa raced down the court and nearly threw a crosscourt pass away, but freshman Trevor Hook was able to pull it down in front of the Peacock bench and launch a high-arcing three that went through the cylinder and tied the game at 59-59 with just one second to play. UMC’s final bomb never had a chance and the game moved to overtime.

 

The Golden Eagles scored the first six points of the overtime period to run out to a 65-59 lead. Alex Kramer put the Peacocks on the board in OT with a free throw to cut the margin to five, but the Golden Eagles answered with two free throws to extend to a 67-60 lead with 31 seconds to play. UMC maintained their advantage through the final horn to claim the NSIC victory, 73-66.

 

Lesan led Upper Iowa with 20 points, while Dan Bestul and Elgin each netted 10 points.  Bestul also added a team-high 7 rebounds. 

Both teams shot 40% for the game, but UMC took advantage of UIU's 20 turnovers to claim the win.

 

The Peacocks (5-10, 4-7 NSIC) will head out on the road next Friday and Saturday, Jan. 21-22. UIU will play Augustana on Friday at 8 p.m. and then travel to Wayne State on Saturday for a 6 p.m. tip.