Box Score Records
 
Upper Iowa (13-12, 11-8 NSIC) || St. Cloud State (16-7, 12-7 NSIC)

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Recap
 
Very familiar with big upsets on the road, the Upper Iowa men's basketball team knew the visiting Huskies of St. Cloud State would make a run late in the game. The Peacocks earned a 19-point lead early in the first half, but watched it dwindle away as SCSU battled all the way back and led by three with 2 seconds on the clock. UIU's last chance bounced off the rim as the Huskies stole the 97-94 victory inside Dorman Gym.

The Peacocks shot 51-percent in the game and held a 50-42 lead at halftime, but SCSU's comeback was fueled by a red-hot 62-percent shooting clip after halftime. The Huskies finished with three players over 20 points, including Damarius Cruz, who led all scorers with 28 points - 21 of which came in the second half. 
 
Despite SCSU pulling out the win and getting on the scoreboard first, the Peacocks entered Saturday's contest with renewed energy – an electricity that was almost palpable. UIU used that momentum to jump all over the Huskies in the first ten minutes.
 
Jimmy Roth got the offense going with a layup off the glass. Joey Woods added the next three points the old-fashioned way as UIU took its first lead of the game, 5-4. That kick-started a 10-0 run for the home team capped by a Roth three-pointer.
 
The Huskies responded to the adversity with a run of their own – this one spanning four minutes as SCSU outscored UIU, 9-4. Seven of those points came in less than a minute, but the home team started to clamp down on defense.
 
UIU held SCSU scoreless for the next three minutes as Luke Lenhart started to heat up. The freshman from Shueyville, Iowa drained a three before adding back-to-back layups – the latter of which he created for himself as he swiped a steal in the Huskies' backcourt. Jordan Hay continued the run with a long-two from the corner.
 
After a solo free throw for the visitors, the Peacocks added five more points to their run as Roth hit another three and Kierre Ogbonna banged down low and earned a layup. In all, it was a 16-1 run as UIU extended its lead to 18 points, 32-14, with 8:43 left in the first half.
 
The Huskies clawed their way back into the game thanks to a 15-7 run as just one minute and 18 seconds ticked off the game clock. The offensive burst pulled UIU within 11 points, 38-27, with six minutes left before halftime.
 
The teams exchanged buckets before Grant Lang drained a three from the top of the arc. The Huskies' Jordan Poydras fired right back as he sandwiched a Josh Weeber baseline jumper with two buckets of his own – the second of which was a three-ball from the wing.
 
Jace Hanna foreshadowed his strong play in the second half as time wound down in the first period. The freshman drove to the hoop, drew a foul and hit both of his free throw attempts. The Peacocks did not have the momentum though, as SCSU ended the period on a 5-2 run to trail by eight at the break, 50-42.
Roth – who had a team-high 8 points in the first half – started to heat up for UIU in the second stanza. After back-to-back steals from Hanna and a goaltending against the Huskies, Roth drove to the hoop and converted a tough layup in traffic. On the Peacocks' next possession, Roth drained a three from the right wing.
 
David Smith added a layup for UIU before Roth hit another trifecta – this one coming from the left wing as he hit the 16-point mark in the game. The bucket gave the Peacocks a 62-49 lead with 16:34 left in regulation, but SCSU wasn't going away.
 
Less than a minute after Roth's three, Cruz converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way. Bo Pagel answered right back with his own three-point play as the junior earned a tough-bucket with contact at the rim. Pagel earned another two points for the home team at the 15:24 mark, but he was answering an SCSU bucket on the other end.
 
After a back-and-forth couple of minutes, the Huskies were able to cut the lead to single digits thanks to back-to-back threes from Poydras and Matt Craggs. The Peacocks went back to Pagel.
 
The junior from Sumner, Iowa was starting to heat up and he had a shooter's touch as he got the roll on a long three from the top of the key. His triple put the UIU lead back to double-digits, 74-63, with 12:12 remaining.
 
The Huskies had their own go-to player. Craggs was getting a touch on every play and he hit three straight buckets for the visitors. Yet just as soon as UIU focused on Craggs, the Huskies earned back-to-back-to-back buckets from Cruz – two of which came from beyond the arc. In all, the duo combined for 15 points as SCSU pulled within two points, 77-75.
 
That's when things got interesting.
 
As SCSU got hot, the Peacocks went ice cold. UIU managed just one point over a five-minute stretch. Finally, Weeber found a spark from beyond the arc. The freshman post hit two huge threes from the left wing as UIU took an 83-82 lead with 4:42 to play.
 
The Huskies didn't waste any time taking the lead back as Cruz was fouled beyond the arc and the senior hit all three free throw attempts. The Peacocks added a free throw on the other end before James Fort drained a bucket for the visitors. Now down 87-84, the Peacocks went inside to Hay, who turned and fired a 15-footer – nothing but net.
 
After Craggs hit one of two free throws on the other end, Hay added one of his own. Cruz ensured a five-point lead for the visitors with a drive and bucket off the glass, but UIU couldn't answer. The Peacocks missed a three and Craggs made them pay with another bucket for the Huskies, putting him at the 25-point mark in the game. Pagel finally found an answer for UIU as his bucket pulled UIU within three, 92-89, with 1:50 left.
 
SCSU hit three consecutive free throws before UIU earned three straight points from Smith – the senior hit a free throw and then got the ball back after Lang earned the offensive rebound.
 
The Peacocks earned a stop on defense, then added a layup from Lang to pull within one point, 95-94, with just 10 seconds left.
 

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Stat of the Game
 
If the Peacocks would have won on Saturday, UIU would have sole possession of fourth place in the NSIC (The top four seeds earn a home playoff game) because Augustana dropped a 85-78 decision to Northern State.
 

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UIU Leaders
 
Roth (19 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists), Pagel (16 points, 6-for-11 FG, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal), Smith (16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steals), Weeber (13 points, 3 rebounds), Hay (7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Lenhart (7 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal)
 

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Sounding Off
Head Coach Brooks McKowen after the game…
 
Thoughts about the ending..."We knew they were going to make a run at the end. On the last play, our guys did a great job getting the inbounds pass in, we got a good look and it just didn't go. Dave had a good look at it - and we can live with that. The biggest thing, we had a stretch at the end of the first half where we let them back into the game and then they had another run at us in the second half and we weren't able to pull it out."

Thoughts on SCSU... "They made a lot of tough shots, but we fouled them. They went to the free throw line instead of us forcing them to make bad shots. They shot 35 free throws on us and most of those probably came in the last ten minutes of the game - it's tough to beat them when you put them on the free throw line like that."

Thoughts on UIU... "Our guys did a good job - we kept answering and kept answering and stayed in the game. When we're on the road I tell the guys, 'You play to get a chance to win the game and when you're at home you can't give the other team that same chance.' We had a chance to put them away, but we just weren't able to do that tonight."

Thoughts on the first half... "I'm really proud of the way we played in that first half. We defended well, we pressured them and we got our hands on a couple passes. We created some offense with our defense. I thought we backed off near the end of the first half and that let them back in the game."
 

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Up Next
 
The Peacocks will meet Augustana for the second time in two weeks next Friday night as UIU hosts the Vikings inside Dorman Gym at 8 p.m.