The Peacock men's basketball team closed their regular season on Saturday night at the Sioux Falls Arena in Sioux Falls, S.D. with an opportunity to win the NSIC South division title for the first time in program history. However, the home-town Augustana Vikings would spoil Upper Iowa's chances with a 92-87 overtime win. UIU drops to second in the division with the loss, but 2016-17 still marks the best season in men's basketball history as a member of the Northern Sun Conference, finishing 16-6 in league play.
 
With the loss, Upper Iowa finishes the regular season 19-9 overall, and still has a chance to make the NCAA regional tournament, with the conference tournament up next on the schedule. UIU finished with an identical conference record (16-6) and division record (11-3) as Augustana, and since the two teams split their two matchups, the tie-breaker came down to head-to-head matchups with the division's top teams. Upper Iowa has two wins this season over the South division champion Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs, and therefore holds the tie-breaker with the Vikings and claims the second seed in the upcoming NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament.
 
The game featured 10 lead changes and 9 ties, and was back-and-forth the entire way. The largest lead all night was 9 points, which Upper Iowa held three different advantages in the first half. Trailing 75-73 with 1:14 to play, the Peacocks turned to their late-game star Carson Parker. Parker hit a pair of foul shots to tie the game at 75 with 20 seconds remaining. With the shot clock turned off, Augustana decided to hold for the final shot to try to win the game. However, Viking point guard Jordan Spencer was called for an offensive foul with 4 seconds remaining on the left wing, with Jace Hanna defending. Hanna, one of the NSIC's best defenders over the years, took the charge to give the Peacocks a shot to win the game.
 
Augustana's main focus defensively was on Parker, as earlier this season the junior point guard hit a three-pointer with 0.5 seconds remaining to beat the Vikings in Fayette. Augie forced the ball into Luke Lenhart's hands, and he was able to set up Josh Weeber for a three-point on the left wing. Weeber's three at the buzzer was just short, and the game went to overtime.
 
In the extra period, both teams continued to trade punches. Redshirt senior Jordan Hay, who led UIU with 20 points, hit a tough shot in the paint to give the visitors a 79-77 lead with 3:33 to play. The next two possessions changed the entire course of the overtime. Augustana's Mike Busack, who finished with a game-high 27 points, hit one of his five triples on the next possession to put the Vikings up one, 80-79. After a Hay miss inside, Spencer, who was 3-12 from the field the entire night, hit his first trifecta of the game to give the home team a four-point lead.
 
Hay hit one of two free throws on the following possession to get UIU back within three points, but a Busack three-point play inside put the Vikings back up six points, 86-80, with 1:43 remaining in overtime. Spencer, Busack, and Adam Beyer hit free throws late to put the game away for good, and Augustana held on for a five-point win.
 
The Peacocks trailed 10-4 early in the first half, but responded well to the adversity. Upper Iowa exploded with a 9-2 run to take a one-point lead. Josh Weeber and Kam Rowan were big reasons for the first-half success, each totaling 8 points in the first 20 minutes. Upper Iowa converted 50% (16-32) from the field in the first frame, including 4-14 from downtown. UIU pulled down a remarkable 21 defensive rebounds, and were able to pull out a seven-point halftime lead, 37-30.
 
However, Augustana fought back early in the second half, and both teams would go back and forth the rest of the game. Upper Iowa led 44-36 after a Lenhart three-pointer three minutes into the second half, but the Vikings responded with an 8-0 spurt to tie the game moments later. At the 10-minute mark of the second stanza, Jimmy Roth hit a pair of free throws to visitors up 56-50, and three minutes later would take a seven-point lead after a Parker triple. But a 10-2 Augie run gave the home team a one-point advantage with 5:09 left. The game was back and forth down the stretch, setting up the intriguing finish in regulation. UIU had chances to win the game, but a couple of foul calls and missed opportunities plagued the Peacocks late in regulation and overtime.
 
 Upper Iowa shot 48% (31-64) from the field, including 9-24 from behind the arc. The Peacocks were terrific at the free thow line, connecting on 16-19 attempts. UIU turned the ball over 13 times, leading to a 15-3 Augustana advantage in points off turnovers. The visitors held a slight 38-36 advantage in points in the paint, but Busack was able to hit from the outside for Augie to held lead to the win.
 
Hay totaled a team-high 20 points, marking the sixth time in his career (all this season) the Stanwood, Iowa native has reach the 20-point plateau. Hay has now reached 917 points in his career in Peacock blue. Rowan totaled 12 points off the bench, while Weeber and Lenhart added 11 points each. Rowan also pulled down a team-high 9 rebounds on the night. Parker finished with just nine points, and was the main focuse of the Viking defense throughout the game.
 
The second-seeded Peacocks will host the No. 7 seed from the NSIC North divison, Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles in the First Round of the 2017 NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 22 in Dorman Gymnasium in Fayette. Tip-off will be scheduled for 7:10 p.m., with the game being available on UIU TV and in eastern Iowa on KCRG TV 9.2. The brackets, times, and schedules for the entire tournament can be found here.