The Peacocks men's basketball team cruised to an 85-74 win over the Bellevue Bruins in Dorman Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
 
UIU capitalized on 19 Bellevue turnovers, turning them into 29 points. The Peacocks also knocked down 29-of-39 (74.4%) free throws, including 20-of-27 in the second half to ice the victory.
 
Luke Lenhart led Upper Iowa with a career-high 27 points. The junior guard was 6-for-9 from three point range, including a 4-point play where he hit a three and was fouled, and converted the free throw. Lenhart's previous career-high came almost exactly a year ago when he scored 25 points against Iowa Wesleyan on Nov. 26. Mitchell Eighme also set a career-high in the win, scoring 14 points in 20 minutes on the floor.
 
Upper Iowa (4-4) jumped out to an early lead on the Bruins and went into halftime with a 44-25 lead. UIU got a spark off the bench as Eighme scored 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the opening 20 minutes. The Peacocks held the Bruins (6-3) to 29.7% shooting (7-24) in the first half to take a 19-point lead into the break.
 
But the visitors did not go away easily. UIU knew it had a quality opponent in Bellevue as the Bruins have been to 13-straight NAIA National Tournaments, making 11 NAIA Sweet Sixteens and three Final Fours in that span.
 
BU cut the lead to 10-points with 11:32 left in the game, but that would be as close as Bellevue would get. The Peacocks kept a double digit lead for the remainder of the second half and closed out the game with free throws.
 
Joining Lenhart and Eighme in double figures for the Peacocks was Jimmy Roth with 14 points and a team-high 6 rebounds, while Dennis Austin III chipped in 10 points for the second consecutive game.
 
UIU opens the conference season on Saturday, Nov. 28 with a matchup against Winona State in Dorman Gym. The game will be the second half of a doubleheader with the Peacock women's basketball team. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.