The Peacock men's basketball team trailed the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs for 38 minutes on Friday night, but rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit to win a thrilling NSIC South contest 77-75. Upper Iowa tied the game at 69 with 2:07 remaining, and took their first lead after a Jimmy Roth free throw. Joey Bartlett connected on a jump shot for the visitors seconds later to take the lead again, but Dennis Austin III drove to the paint to connect on a layup while being fouled to answer back. Bartlett put SMSU up 73-72 after another jump shot, but then Peacock senior Luke Lenhart connected on a three-pointer to give UIU a two-point lead with 47 seconds remaining. Taylor Shafer tied the game at 75 with 37 seconds left, but Upper Iowa got another chance. After a Carson Parker miss, Jordan Hay got a big offensive rebound and was fouled on a put-back attempt. Hay knocked down both free throws, and the Peacock defense held to win a thriller 77-75.

With the win, Upper Iowa improves to 4-3 (1-0 NSIC), while SMSU falls for the first time this season dropping to 6-1 (1-1 NSIC).

The first half was a half of runs. The Mustangs jumped out to an 8-0 lead only to see the Peacocks tie the game with a run of their own. With 4:57 remaining in the first half, UIU had its largest deficit at 35-19, but UIU went on a 15-9 run to close out the half. Upper Iowa never got closer than six for the majority of the second half, but clawed their way back to get within 57-51 with 12:22 remaining. Kam Rowan connected on a layup for two of his 13 points off the bench to put UIU within four, but SMSU went on a quick run to push the lead back to nine points. After a 6-0 run got UIU within three points, a pair of Lenhart free throws allowed UIU to get within striking distance with 2:00 left. That set up the outstanding finish.

Upper Iowa connected on 29-57 (50.9%) from the field including 5-17 (29.4%) from beyond the arc. SMSU converted 31-61 (50.8%) for almost identical numbers, but the different for the Mustangs was rebounding. The visitors outrebounded the Peacocks 40-20, including 14 offensive boards. Upper Iowa converted 14-18 from the free throw line, including the two biggest foul shots with seven seconds left from Hay to win the game.

Hay led the way with 15 points and 4 rebounds, while Roth, Lenhart and Rowan all tallied 13 points. Roth went 4-4 from the field, and 5-5 from the foul line, while Lenhart converted 3-6 from distance. Rowan, off the bench, converted 4-8 from the field and 4-6 from the charity stripe. Bartlett led the way with 20 for the visitors on 8-11 shooting, while Ryan Bruggeman added 16 points and Mitch Weg tallied 10 points.

The Peacocks will return to Dorman Gymnasium Saturday night to square off with the Sioux Falls Cougars for an NSIC South matchup beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday's game is Ugly Sweater night in the stands, and the game will be broadcast in eastern Iowa on KCRG TV 9.3.