The Peacock men’s basketball team returned to Dorman Gym tonight for their final game of the season. UIU played host to the Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth in a rematch of an NSIC affair from early December.

 

Six Upper Iowa seniors were recognized prior to the game. The six included Chris Sullivan, Alex Huisman, Neil Gross, Alex Kramer, Dan Bestul and Matt Lesan. The half dozen Peacocks have scored over 3,000 points and pulled down over 1,300 rebounds.

 

Neither team took total control of the game in the first half; instead both squads went on small runs. Upper Iowa’s biggest lead of four points came on three occasions; the last of which was with under eight minutes to play, 26-22. Minnesota Duluth’s largest lead of five came twice. The final five-point advantage came at the break thanks to a buzzer-beating tip in.

 

Both teams shot over 50% from the field, but UMD held an 18-13 advantage in rebounds while claiming their 44-39 lead at halftime.

 

The visitors opened the second half by outscoring their hosts 11-6 to extend the gap to ten, 55-45, after five minutes of play. Upper Iowa began to chip away at the lead and got back within one, 60-59, after a 14-5 run. The Peacocks continued to stay close, but the Bulldogs’ Ryan Rasmussen put his team on his back to maintain the lead with eight points in a two-minute span.

 

A pair of Lesan free throws finally brought the Peacocks and Bulldogs even at 70-70 with less than five minutes to play. Six straight points gave UMD the advantage once again but a three-point play by Sam Elgin and a trifecta from Matt Lesan tied the game at 76-76 with just over a minute to play. The teams exchanged inside buckets to maintain the tie. 

 

After a missed Bulldog jumper in the closing seconds, a foul was called on a tip-in attempt by Dylan Rodriguez with .5 seconds on the clock. After a miss on his first free throw, a technical foul was assessed to the Upper Iowa bench. The Bulldogs netted three straight free throws, and after UIU’s last-ditch effort failed, Minnesota Duluth had won the game 71-68. 

 

Lesan closed out his UIU career with 28 points including 12 of 13 shooting at the free throw line. Fellow senior Alex Kramer netted 13, while Jake Hughes added 8. Kramer and Neil Gross pulled in 5 rebounds apiece.