Box Score FAYETTE, IA. – Hosting their first conference playoff game since moving up to Division II, the Upper Iowa men’s basketball seniors made sure Wednesday night's game would not be the last of the season. Sam Elgin, Jake Hughes and Tucker Wentzien all scored 12 or more points as the Peacocks posted a season-high 86 points on the visiting Minot State defense. Elgin led the way for UIU with 26 points as the Peacocks defeated the Beavers, 86-72, inside Dorman Gym in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Men’s Basketball Tournament.

With the victory, UIU improves to a Division II-best 19-10 record under seventh-year coach Brian Dolan.

“We’re excited, but by no means are we satisfied,” he said. “We have another big one this weekend.”

The Peacocks will hit the road for the quarterfinals as they head north to St. Cloud, Minnesota to face the Huskies of St. Cloud State on Saturday night.

“It’s going to be fun. There’s no pressure on us,” Hughes said. “We were picked 13th in the conference [in the preseason poll] and we finished fourth in our division. We don’t feel any pressure at all. We just want to go out and enjoy these games as a team and as a unit.”

Hughes helped set the tone for the Peacocks early in the game as UIU jumped out to a 10-4 lead three and a half minutes into the contest. MISU bounced right back with a three-pointer and two free throws to tie the game at 10-10 less than 30 seconds later. The Beavers went on a 10-5 run to earn their largest lead of the night, 20-15. That lead quickly disappeared, though, as UIU went on a 10-4 run. Hughes had five of those ten points, finally finding his rhythm from beyond the arc.

“I missed my first two threes and I was just thinking, ‘please go in’ with the third one,” Hughes said. “Coach is always telling me to keep shooting and that’s what I did tonight.”

The senior from Cedar Rapids, Iowa had ten first half points, but MISU kept the game close. By halftime, the game had been tied eight times and neither team could earn a lead larger than six. UIU closed the opening period with a 40-38 lead.

Elgin, who had 13 total points in each of his last two games, had 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting after one period of play on Wednesday night. He was also a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the opening period.

“I think I was forcing it a little too much offensively over the past couple of games,” Elgin said. “Coach just told me to relax and let the game come to me and look what happened. I usually try to be aggressive and get to the free throw line, because free throws are free, easy shots. You have to knock them down and they’re big in games like this.”

Despite 51.7 percent shooting from Minot State in the first half, UIU kept its slim lead by knocking down 11 of their 13 free throw attempts.

In the second half, the Beavers tied the game at 40-40 right off the bat with a Josh Johnson layup. The Peacocks responded with three consecutive points from Joey Woods and the Peacocks’ offensive juggernaut was beginning to form.

“When we stretch the defense out, I think all of our guys play well,” Dolan said. “I thought Joey played well in the first half, but I thought that the seniors – Jake, Sam and Tucker – did a great job of controlling the game in the second half and leading us to victory.”

Wentzien extended the Peacocks’ lead to five with a layup off the glass at the 17:18 mark in the second period before Bo Pagel stepped in front of a pass and took off on the fast break. Pagel found a streaking Woods for the ensuing layup and just like that UIU was up by seven, 47-40.

Johnson drained a jumper from the baseline to slow the bleeding, but Pagel responded with a three-pointer from the right corner and UIU was up 50-42 with 15:44 left in the game.

“It started with that steal that I took the other way and gave to Joey for a layup,” Pagel said. “I had that six-minute spurt where shots were just falling for me.”

EJ Williams hit a pair of free throws for the Beavers, but Dolan knew his sophomore guard had a hot hand and went to Pagel again. The Sumner, Iowa native did not disappoint as he knocked down consecutive three-pointers on back-to-back possessions.

“Shooters may only stay hot for a couple of minutes, so we kept feeding him,” Dolan said. “For Bo, it all comes down to taking the right shots and I thought he did that tonight.”

The Peacocks then pushed their lead to 18 points after an Elgin trifecta, his second of the game.

“When Sam lets the game come to him, he’s an all-league guy,” Dolan said. “We need to keep him playing like that so we can play a little deeper into the month of March.”

MISU responded with one final run as Johnson hit a three and Williams hit a pair of free throws and a trey as well. MISU was within ten points with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

“They just did a good job of spreading it around,” Dolan said. “But in the second half they went to their bread and butter, which is spreading us out and drive it right down our throats. When we were set, we did a nice job of guarding it.”

On the Beavers’ next possession, Dominique McDonald cut the lead to single digits with a drive, spin and layup off the glass, but MISU would come no closer.
 
Elgin answered McDonald’s bucket with two layups of his own, followed by two free throws after a technical foul call on Williams. Another foul sent Wentzien to the line and his two free throws pushed UIU out to a 16-point lead.

In all, the Peacocks connected on 27-of-31 free throws, including the final 6, which all came from Hughes.

“With Jake, we told him to take more shots from three,” Dolan said. “If you’re open and your feet are down, shoot the dang thing and he did that tonight. He hit two big threes for us.”

UIU is now a perfect 14-0 when scoring 70 or more points this season, but Dolan says it’s not really about the offensive output.

“It’s more about defense,” he said. “It just means that we’re playing on both ends of the floor. We could easily lose a game when we score over 70, but the kids did a good job guarding tonight. Offensively, we turned some long rebounds and loose balls into points and we have to keep doing that the rest of the season.”

The 84-72 victory was the first postseason victory for UIU since moving to Division II. The Peacocks were previously 0-2 in the postseason, but they've turned it around this year.

“Everyone is 0-0 when you get to the postseason,” Pagel said. “It’s just a fresh start for everyone and we came out tonight and played our game.”

Elgin, sporting a new haircut, led the way for the Peacocks offensively with 26 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 10-of-10 shooting from the charity stripe. The Center Point, Iowa native also had five rebounds, three steals and two assists in 33 minutes of play.

“This was the first time we’ve hosted a conference game, so I figured why not?” Elgin said about his new-look Mohawk. “Might as well spice it up a little bit.”

Hughes took the quieter road, but his 18 points were good enough for a season-high.

“I really came out tonight planning to be aggressive. We didn’t want this to be our last game,” Hughes said. “We all played really aggressive from the get-go and I tried to have the team feed off my energy.”

Wentzien also had a strong night. The NSIC Player of the Week had his third double-double of the season as he scored 12 points while snagging 11 boards.

“Tucker did a great job controlling the boards, but it’s not so much about who gets the boards for our team, it’s about who doesn’t get them,” Dolan said.

The Peacocks will now get ready for Saturday's quarterfinals matchup in the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament with St. Cloud State. Upper Iowa defeated SCSU 71-70 earlier this year, but these seniors are not taking anything for granted.

“We’re definitely not done,” Hughes said. “Our next goal is to make the NCAA Tournament and we definitely need to win this next game on Saturday. We need to prepare hard tomorrow and Friday, so we’re not finished yet.”