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Upper Iowa nearly pulled an upset on the road tonight, but the #16 Dragons of Minnesota State University Moorhead escaped with a two-point overtime victory, 70-68, after rallying from a double-digit deficit with only five minutes to play. 

The home team held the Peacocks to just four points over the final five minutes of regulation and then claimed the win with a pair of free throws and a big block in the final seconds.  With the loss, UIU falls to 4-10 overall and 1-9 in the NSIC, while MSUM improves to 13-1 overall and 9-1 in the conference.

The Dragons jumped out to a 22-12 lead over the first eleven and a half minutes fueled by a 9-1 run after a Mark Lafrenz three-pointer cut the gap to two.  The Peacocks answered their hosts run by outscoring the Dragons 16-1 over the next five and a half minutes to claim a 28-23 lead.  The UIU run included seven points from Tucker Wentzien and six from Jake Hughes.  Upper Iowa held onto their lead as the teams headed to the break, but MSU Moorhead was able to cut slim the gap to one, 32-31.

The Peacocks came out of the break and extended their lead to nine, 42-33, thanks to a 10-2 run highlighted by seven points from Sam Elgin.   UIU maintained their advantage between six and nine for the next ten minutes matching MSUM's offense and a Joey Woods jumper at the 5:04 mark gave Upper Iowa a double-digit lead, 54-43.

The Dragons began to storm back with a 13-2 run that tied the game, 56-56, with 1:08 to play.  During the run, the home team got a trio of triples from behind the three-point line including two from Andrew VanHavermaet and a dunk from Alex Novak.

Wentzien hit a jumper as the clock moved under a minute to put the Peacocks back up two, but Novak hammered home his fifth dunk of the game to lock the game up at 58-58.  Upper Iowa had the final shot, but a Woods' jumper missed its mark as the game moved to overtime.

The teams traded shots in overtime as the lead changed hands seven times.  MSUM's VanHavermaet tallied a pair of trifectas, but the Peacocks answered thanks to Wentzien's three made baskets including one from beyond the arc.  The one-point, UIU lead was short-lived as Novak put down his sixth dunk of the game.  A pair of Elgin free throws with 1:29 to play gave the Peacocks their final lead of the night, 67-66.

A steal and putback by DJ Hamilton gave the Dragons the lead back, but UIU was able to tie the game at 68-68 with 35 seconds on the clock when Woods hit one of two at the charity stripe.

Hamilton gave MSU Moorhead the final points of the night when he stepped to the free throw line with nine seconds to play. 

Woods took the ball to the basket in the final seconds, but was turned away as Novak came up with a big block in the paint to deny UIU's final shot to tie.

The Peacocks dominated the glass to the tune of a 38-26 advantage, but the Dragons posted a higher shooting percentage.  MSUM hit 50% of their attempts from the field including 10 makes in 19 attempts from deep.  UIU shot 43.9% from the field, but converted only 6 of their 19 three-pointers.