For the first time in the last eight years, the Upper Iowa men's basketball team won its season opener, outscoring the Fort Hays State Tigers 12-7 in the final 3:55 of the game to pull off an 86-83 victory. Sophomore guard Jace Hanna knocked down two sets of free throws in the last ten seconds to keep UIU up three and Fort Hays missed its shot at the buzzer to lock up the win. Last season, the Peacocks met FHSU in the second game of the season, falling in overtime 97-90 to the Tigers. 

In a back-and-forth first half that saw nine lead changes and no leads larger than five, the Tigers took a 40-37 lead into the break. The Peacocks shot just 3-of-9 to close out the last 9:26 of the first half, but stayed in the game with free throw shooting as Fort Hays State put UIU on the line 15 times in the first half and Upper Iowa converted eight of those attempts.

UIU came out of the locker room hot, shooting 5-of-6 to start the second half including three buckets from downtown by Grant Lang, Carson Parker and Josh Weeber, giving the Peacocks an early 51-43 lead four minutes into the second half.

Fort Hays battled right back, scoring 10 of the next 14 points to bring it to a two-point game with 12:30 left. UIU would stretch their lead to five over the next two-and-a-half minutes, only to see the Tigers bounce back with a 6-0 run to take the lead 66-65 with 8:49 remaining. UIU kept its cool, quickly regaining the lead and holding it for the next five minutes. But the pesky Tigers kept coming, taking a 76-74 lead at the 3:55 mark after making back-to-back sets of free throws. Fort Hays State was solid from the charity stripe all night, converting 23-of-26 attempts for a 88.5 percent clip. 

But the Peacocks had one last run left in the tank and used three straight layups to take the lead for good. FHSU brought the game within one on two separate occasions, but Hanna nailed all four of his free throws in the final ten ticks and iced the game as the Tigers final shot was off the mark. 

While UIU shot 26-of-54 (48.1 percent) from the floor and 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) from distance, but struggled from the free throw line, shooting just 25-38 (65.8 percent). The Tigers shot 42.4 percent from the field, but only 25 percent from three point range. The Peacocks had five players in double figures, led by sophomore Jimmy Roth with 18. Weeber had 16, including shooting 4-of-9 from three, while Hanna (14), Parker (13) and Lang (11) rounded out the top Peacock scorers. Junior Jordan Hay scored seven and led UIU with nine rebounds. Hanna dished out seven assists, while Parker added five dimes. 

Upper Iowa will look to avenge last season's opening loss on Saturday when they play the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State. The game will once again be played at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Mo. and tip-off at 5 p.m.