The Upper Iowa Men’s Basketball team opened the homestretch of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference season Friday night by making their final scheduled road trip of the regular season.  The Peacocks travelled to Crookston, Minn. to battle the Golden Eagles of UM, Crookston and attempt to avenge an overtime loss to UMC on January 15 in Fayette.  Four Peacocks scored in double-figures to lift the Peacocks past Minnesota Crookston, 71-63.

Senior Dan Bestul led UIU with 13 points on five-of-six shooting which included a pair of three-point buckets.  The Northwood, Iowa-native added to his stat line with four rebounds, two assists and a steal in 23 minutes of work.  Tucker Wentzien added 12 points while Neil Gross had his best scoring output of the season with 11 points and a team-high six boards.  Mike Lafrenz chipped in 10 points and added five rebounds.

The largest lead of the game for UM, Crookston came in early in the first half, but even though the home team led for the first 12 minutes of the game, their lead would never go over six.  Upper Iowa took their first lead when Bestul nailed a jumper with 6:56 to go before halftime, allowing UIU to take a 23-21 lead. 

Amazingly, the lead switched back and forth over the remainder of the first half, but neither team would get a lead greater than three points as the home team carried two-point margin, 37-35 into the locker room at halftime.

The second half remained close but back-to-back buckets by Mike Lafrenz and Alex Kramer allowed UIU to take the lead 48-46 with 12:14 to go in the contest, a lead they would never relinquish as they answered every attempt the Golden Eagles made to try to take back control of the game and won the game, 71-63.

Bench production and points off of turnovers proved to be very beneficial for UIU, especially in the second half when the Peacocks outscored UMC 15-0 in bench points and 15-1 in points off of turnovers.  For the game, the road team gained a 32-5 advantage in bench points while turning 13 Golden Eagles turnovers into 19 points.

UM, Crookston was led by 13 points each from Eric Dearden and Almir Krdzalic.

UIU shot 25-of-51 (49%) as they improved to 8-15 overall and 7-12 in the NSIC.

The Peacocks will be back in action tomorrow night when they visit Moorhead, Minn. to line up against the Dragons of MSU Moorhead.  Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.