The Peacock men's basketball team made history on Friday night at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn. Upper Iowa set a new school record at the Division II level for three-point shooting, connecting on 71.4% of their shots (15-21) from behind the arc. The hot-shooting Peacocks jumped out to a big halftime lead and put up a season-high 92 points en route to a 22-point win. UIU converted 33-57 (57.9%) from the field to propel them to their fifth straight win, which ties a Peacock DII record as well. The last such winning streak came back in the 2013-14 campaign, the first year under current head coach Brooks McKowen. Senior Jordan Hay led the way with a career-high 23 points.

With the win, Upper Iowa improves to 3-0 in NSIC play for the first time since the 2012-13 season, when they opened up 4-0. The Peacocks are 6-3 overall on the season and dropped Concordia-St. Paul to 3-6 and 0-3 in league play.

Five Peacocks scored in double figures on the evening. Hay's 23 points and 6 rebounds were a game high, and he put together a 9-11 shooting night including his first three-pointer of the season. The Stanwood, Iowa native added two assists, and totaled three blocks to complete his dominant night. It was the first career 20-point game for the Peacock forward, and the fourth consecutive double-digit scoring effort. Senior Josh Weeber provided 15 points of the bench on a perfect 5-5 shooting from distance, and added three boards. Luke Lenhart was also perfect from behind the arc (4-4), totaling 14 points. Junior Carson Parker had his second-best output of the season, scoring 13 points on 4-5 shooting (3-4 from distance), and added 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals to fill the stat sheet. Redshirt sophomore Dennis Austin III chipped in with 11 points and 5 boards.

Upper Iowa got off to a great start on Friday night, and would not look back. The visitors trailed 2-1 and 5-3, but after tying the game at 5 early on, UIU took the lead and never gave it back. Weeber connected on his first trifecta at the 14:12 mark to put his team up 3, and five minutes later the Dubuque, Iowa native hit another triple to give UIU its largest lead to that point, 23-12. Senior Jace Hanna, playing in his first game of the season because of a hip injury, connected on a trifecta at the 8:00 mark to keep the Peacock lead at double digits. Hanna finished the game with 6 points on a pair of three-point field goals in 19 minutes of action. 

UIU's first-half lead grew to 17 points after a pair of Lenhart triples, and with 58 seconds left in the period, Parker connected on a long ball to put the Peacocks up 20, 48-28. The visitors took an 18-point lead into the locker room, the largest such lead at the intermission of the season for UIU. Upper Iowa shot a remarkable 19-31 (61.3%) from the field, including 8-10 from behind the arc. Concordia-St. Paul shot 41.9% from the field (13-31), but were held to just 2-11 (18.2%) from distance in the first 20 minutes.

The Peacocks stayed hot in the second half on offense. Upper Iowa converted 14-26 from the field (53.8%), including a 7-11 performance from distance, and converted all nine free throw attempts as well. The Golden Bears shot 44.4% in the second stanza, including 6-11 from behind the arc, but could not overcome the first-half deficit.

The home team opened up the final frame on a 17-8 run to get within 7 points (56-49) with 13:41 remaining, but Hay halted the run with an old-fashioned three-point play to put the visitors back up 10. From that point on, the Peacocks always had an answer. A 20-7 UIU run over the next four minutes included a pair of Parker triples and three-pointers from Lenhart and Hanna to put the game away. Lenhart, Hay, and Weeber connected on consecutive trifectas in a two-minute span to give Upper Iowa a remarkable 26-point lead with 3:43 remaining. UIU would go on to win 92-71 after their historical offensive night.

The Peacocks like playing against their opponents from the Twin Cities. UIU has now won four of the last five games against CSP, and have won 5 straight games at the Gangelhoff Center, averaging 89 points in those contests. Upper Iowa has connected on at least 12 three-pointers in each of those five meetings as well. Upper Iowa has now dropped at least 9 trifectas against the Golden Bears in each of the last 7 matchups since 2013.

UIU will look to stay hot on Saturday night when they travel south of St. Paul down to Mankato, Minn. to battle the Minnesota State Mavericks. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. tomorrow night.