NSIC Tournament Bracket

On Senior Night, a couple of sophomores led the Peacocks to victory over Wayne State. Jimmy Roth started the comeback for the Peacocks, who fell down by 20 midway through the first, by scoring 11 points in the opening half and bringing the game back to a manageable six points at halftime. In the latter period, Luke Lenhart put the team on his back, going 6-for-8 from the field, including 3-for-3 from deep, as he dropped 19 second half points to carry UIU to 92-86 victory.

With the win, UIU moved to 16-12 overall and 12-10 in NSIC play, as well as locking up a home game for opening round of the Northern Sun Conference Tournament. The Peacocks will host Minot State on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7:10 p.m.

The first half started at a frantic pace as both teams pushed the ball quickly down the floor. The Peacocks, however, weren't connecting on their early shots while the Wildcats seemingly couldn't miss. Wayne State started 12-of-21 from the floor in the opening 10 minutes, while the Upper Iowa was just 6-of-21, including 0-8 from distance, and the Wildcats took an early 33-13 lead.

But Roth spearheaded a 13-2 run for the Peacocks in the final 5:06 of the half, scoring 9 of the 13 points for UIU as Upper Iowa cut the Wildcat halftime lead to six, 44-38.

After a sloppy start to the second half for both teams, Jernell Hughes sparked Upper Iowa. Hughes got a steal, took it the length of the floor and turned it into an old-fashioned three point play to bring the WSC lead back to six, 50-44.

Lenhart then took over with back-to-back trifectas to tie the game, 50-50. The sophomore from Storm Lake, Iowa, added seven more points in the next three minutes as the game swung in UIU's favor and the Peacocks took a three-point lead, 64-61, with 9:33 left.

Wayne State then went to their big man and top scorer, Patrick Kurth, down the stretch and he scored in a big way, throwing down a couple monster dunks. But the Peacocks countered with solid free throw shooting, knocking down 10 in a row to keep a five point lead with five minutes left, 75-70.

A few late threes pulled the Wildcats within one on two separate occasions but UIU was able hit shots and knock down free throws down the stretch to seal the game.

Lenhart tied with Wildcat guard Trae VandeBerg for a game-high 23 points. Roth finished with 20 and a team-leading 7 rebounds, while Hughes chipped in 12 for UIU and Josh Weeber added 11. 

Upper Iowa was severely overmatched in the rebounding category, with Wayne State grabbing 44 boards compared to 25 for the Peacocks, but UIU forced the Wildcats into 17 turnovers, turning into 19 Peacock points.