The Peacock men's basketball team survived a fierce rally by Concordia University, St. Paul Golden Bears to secure an 86-84 win as a final, half court heave fell short for the home team. While the Peacock offense was solid in both halves, it was the Golden Bear offense that lit up the scoreboard in the second half scoring 53 points after UIU's defense held CU in check in the opening half.
The two-point decision pulled UIU into a tie for third place in the NSIC South with Concordia; both teams have identical 15-10 overall records and 11-8 marks in the conference. The win also earned the Peacocks the season sweep over the Golden Bears.
The teams went back and forth in the opening half and were tied at 28-28 with five and a half minutes to play before the break. Upper Iowa went on a 14-3 run to close out the half fueled by a pair of three-pointers by
Jernell Hughes and scores by five different Peacocks. Concordia owned the paint to the tune of 20-6 advantage, but UIU subs poured in 30 of UIU's 42 points.
Eight minutes into the second half, a three-point play from
Luke Lenhart, a trifecta by
Josh Weeber and a pair of free throws from
Jace Hanna gave the road team their biggest lead of the night (15), 62-47. The Peacocks still led, 78-64, with 6:40 on the clock, but Concordia mounted one last push that nearly gave the home team the win.
The Golden Bears outscored their guests 17-4 over the next six minutes to pull within one, 82-81, with 25 seconds to play. The home team's run was paced by seven points from Cole Olstad, who knocked in one jumper and added five free throws.
With the Peacocks ahead by one,
Jace Hanna stepped to the line and calmly knocked down two freebies giving UIU an 84-81 lead. After a Golden Bear miss, UIU went to the line again, where
Bo Pagel converted one of two shots for an 85-81 lead with 8 seconds on the clock. Terez VanPelt kept hope alive for the Golden Bears with a three-pointer to cut the gap back to one. Lenhart stepped to the line and knocked in one of his two free throws and Concordia got one final look at a half court shot, but the attempt came up short and the Peacocks survived for the victory.
Concordia was led by three scorers with 20 or more points. Keith Crockett scored 22 points, while Olstad netted 21 points and Nuni Omot connected for 20 points. Olstad added 9 rebounds and 4 steals to his stat line playing well on both sides of the floor.
The bench proved to be the key for the Peacocks with a 46-8 advantage in scoring. Hughes led the Peacocks in scoring with 17, while Lenhart added 9, Parker and Weeber both netted 8 and
Jordan Hay scored 4. As for the starters, Upper Iowa got 14 points from
Bo Pagel and added 8 apiece from
Grant Lang and Hanna. Hay led the team in rebounding with 6, while
Jimmy Roth and Lang both handed out 4 assists.
The Peacocks will head to Minnesota State University, Mankato for a match up against the Mavericks at 6 p.m. in Mankato, Minn. on Saturday.
