The Peacock men's basketball team earned its fourth consecutive win on Friday night in Fayette after defeating the Marauders of the University of Mary in a hard-fought NSIC cross-division battle. Upper Iowa and U-Mary traded punches throughout the game, but the home team use a 16-7 run over the final four minutes and connected on 21-26 from the free throw line to close out the game. With the 87-78 win, UIU improves to 15-6 overall and 12-3 in the Northern Sun Conference, while U-Mary drops to 8-13 overall and 6-9 in league play.
 
Senior Luke Lenhart led all players with a game-high 28 points on 7-12 shooting, including a 5-10 performance from behind the arc and a 9-10 effort at the free throw line. The Storm Lake, Iowa native led the team in scoring for the first time this season, and scored a season-best in the process. Friday marks the first 20-point game of the season for the Peacock guard.
 
Dennis Austin III totaled 12 points and a team-high 7 rebounds, while senior Jace Hanna totaled as season-best 12 points as well on 4-5 shooting from distance. Mitch Eighme and Josh Weeber added 9 and 8 points off the bench, respectively. Carson Parker tallied 5 points and a team-high 7 assists for the night as well.
 
UIU overcame a 24-point night by Marauder guard Demonta Henry, a recent member of the 1,000-point club. Bryan Jefferson added 19 points for U-Mary, and the two combined for over half the visiting points for the game.
 
Upper Iowa led for a total of 2:09 in the first half, however, the Marauders could not push their lead larger than five points (10-5). UIU led late in the first half, but a late field goal by U-Mary gave the visitors a one-point, 36-35 lead at halftime. U-Mary shot 48% (13-27) from the field in the first 20 minutes, while UIU converted 40% of their attempts. The first half was even the entire way, but the second half would feature more runs back and forth.
 
Trailing 40-35 with 18:28 remaining in the game, the Peacocks went on an 18-2 run over a 3:30 time span to pull ahead 53-42. Austin III scored five straight points to start the rally, then Lenhart, Weeber, and Parker hit consecutive three-pointers to increase the lead. Weeber would go on to hit another trifecta, and Austin III went back inside to complete the run, and it would look as though Upper Iowa would cruise to a win. However, the visitors were not done.
 
U-Mary went on a 19-8 run themselves to tie the game up, 61-61, with 9 minutes remaining. UIU answered with a Hanna three-pointer and back-to-back layups by Eighme and Parker to answer right back. But after back-to-back triples by the Marauders, U-Mary would respond again to take their first lead of the second half. With the game tied at 71 with 4:28 remaining, it would be the Peacocks to put the exclamation point on the game with one final run. UIU's 16-7 burst would prove to be too much, as the Peacocks earned their 15th win of the year.
 
For the game, Upper Iowa held the slightest of edges in field goal percentage (47.4% to 46.7%,), but held a bigger advantage in three-point shooting. The Peacocks connected on 12-27 (44.4%) from distance, while the Marauders converted 8-23 (34.8%) shots from behind the arc. The Peacocks forced 17 turnovers, and converted 25 points off those turnovers to earn the win.
 
The Peacocks will look to push the winning streak to five games tomorrow night when they take the court against the Minot State Beavers inside Dorman Gymnasium in Fayette. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m., and will be available online on UIU TV and in eastern Iowa on KCRG TV 9.2.