The Upper Iowa men's basketball team became the third NSIC team to fall to the Rangers of UW-Parkside this season with an 83-67 loss. The Rangers beat St. Cloud State 76-65 on Nov. 21 and Minnesota Duluth 79-61 on Nov. 23.
 
Peacocks Head Coach Brooks McKowen always looks to win the first five minutes of the game and that is what Upper Iowa did against UW-Parkside on Tuesday night. At the 15:00 minute mark of the first half, UIU held an 11-10 lead, shooting 4-of-7 from the field.

But that was where it fell apart for the Peacocks. In UIU's first possession after the five minute mark, Upper Iowa had a shot blocked and it turned into a three pointer for the Rangers on the other end. UIU's ensuing possession was a quick missed shot, which UWP pulled down and turned into another quick three. The Rangers went from down one to up by five and never looked back.

For the remainder of the half, Upper Iowa closed the gap, coming as close as three, only to fall behind by as many as eight. At the half, UIU trailed 39-33.

Parkside came out of the halftime break on a 20-8 run as UIU started 2-of-9 from the field and had five turnovers in the first eight and a half minutes of the second half.

The lead for the Rangers got as big as 25 with 6:08 left in the game before the Peacocks were able to start getting some shots to fall. UIU hit three trifectas in the last five-plus minutes to outscore UWP down the stretch by nine points and bring the final score within 16.

The Peacocks shot just 39.2% (20-51) from the floor and had just 10, both team-lows since their loss to Winona State on Nov. 29. Upper Iowa also committed a season-high 22 turnovers, more than twice as many as its 9.4 per game average.

Bo Pagel, Luke Lenhart and Jernell Hughes led UIU with 11 points. Jordan Hay pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and added six points. The Rangers held Peacock starters Jace Hanna and Jarrod Gamble scoreless for the first time this season as the two combined to shoot 0-for-4 from the field and 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.

UIU returns to conference play on Saturday, Dec. 20 when they host Winona State in Dorman Gymnasium at 6 p.m.