The Upper Iowa men's basketball team ended their season on Sunday afternoon for the second straight season at the hands of the Minnesota State Moorhead Dragons in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quarterfinals. The Peacocks never held a lead in the game but never felt as though the game was out of reach until the final moments when the Dragons pulled away for a 94-87 win. UIU finishes the season with a 17-13 record, improving on last season's win total by one in Head Coach Brooks McKowen's second season.

The Peacocks outshot the #5 Dragons from the floor and from three point range, despite MSUM leading the conference in both categories. UIU also forced Minnesota State Moorhead into 13 turnovers, five more than their NSIC-best eight per game. Despite all of this, Upper Iowa never lead in the game but the game never felt out of reach for the Peacocks. 

Hot shooting sprung the Dragons out to an 11 point lead just six minutes into the game. MSUM junior guard Tyler Vaughn seemingly couldn't miss, scoring 17 points in the first half points. UIU closed the gap with precise shooting of its own, knocking down bac-to-back threes to finish a 9-2 run, bringing it back to a one point game at the midway point of the opening half.

With 50 seconds left, Bo Pagel got to the hoop, finished and drew a foul. He completed the old-fashioned three-point play and the Peacocks trailed by just two, 48-46. Then, UIU appeared to get a stop on the defensive end and would have a chance to tie or take the lead, but the Dragons grabbed the offensive board and responded with a three-point play of their own to take a five point, 51-46 lead into the halftime break. 

 UIU and MSUM traded baskets throughout the opening seven minutes of the second half, with the Dragons holding onto a lead of at least five but never hitting double digits.

With 12:51 remaining in the game, Josh Weeber spurred a 5-0 run on his own to bring the Peacocks back to down just three, 64-61. Again, over the next five minute, the teams traded baskets and stops as UIU couldn't break through and tie the game.

With under eight minutes left, the Dragon's leader and co-NSIC Player of the Year Jordan Riewers knocked down a deep three to push the lead back to eight, 80-72. Upper Iowa then bulked up on defense, getting stops on four of the next five possessions. UIU added two fast break three pointers to finish an 8-2 run to pull within two, 82-80 with 3:23 left.

But the Dragons were too strong and had an answer for each Peacock rally. The NSIC's best free throw shooting team proved itself worthy of that honor in the end, knocking down eight from the charity stripe in the final two minutes to ice the game away.

UIU's seniors led the way for the Peacocks, with Grant Lang scoring 20 points, his tenth 20-point effort of his career, in his final game. Lang added a career-high nine rebounds, while Pagel chipped in 16 points in his last game in Peacock blue. Weeber was the only other Peacock in double digits, scoring 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting.