In a game that featured 13 ties, 13 lead changes, 23 three-pointers, and 178 combined points, it was the hometown Dragons of MSU Moorhead who got the best of Upper Iowa on Saturday night at Alex Nemzek Hall in Moorhead, Minn. The Dragons used a late 10-2 run to close out the Peacocks 93-85. With the loss, Upper Iowa suffers its first losing weekend of the season, and drops to 16-8 overall and 13-5 in the Northern Sun Conference. With the win, the Dragons improve to 20-4 overall and 15-3 in the league.
 
MSU Moorhead, who was receiving votes in the D2SIDA Top 25 poll, struck late in this game after both teams traded punches the entire night. After Upper Iowa's Luke Lenhart tied the game at 83 with a three-pointer with 3:01 to play, the home team put together a 10-2 run to win the game. MSUM's Tanner Kretchman hit a trifecta with 2:01 left to put the home team up three. After a Peacock turnover, Kretchman hit a layup with a foul in transition and connected on the free throw to convert the three-point play, and all of a sudden the Dragons were up six points. Carson Parker, who was a dominant force in this game, connected in the paint to get UIU within 4, 89-85, with a minute to play. However, Parker missed his next shot attempt the next possession and MSUM began to close out the game.
 
After a Jordan Hay miss inside, and a few fouls including a pair of technicals, the home team connected on free throws to extend the lead to eight and end the night, 93-85.
 
Parker led the Peacocks with 26 points, his second-best total of the season, on an extremely efficient 10-13 from the field including 4-5 from behind the arc. The sophomore point guard also totaled a team-high six rebounds (four offensive) and three assists to stuff the stat sheet. Kam Rowan and Josh Weeber netted 14 and 11 points respectively off the bench, while Jace Hanna and starter Jimmy Roth added 8. Rowan tied Parker with six boards, and Luke Lenhart matched Parker with 3 assists.
 
Upper Iowa could not slow down MSU Moorhead's Aaron Lien and Tanner Kretchman, who finished with 27 and 21 points respectively to dominate the scoring for the home team. Matt Anderson added 10 off the bench for the Dragons as well.
 
The Peacocks shot much better from the field on Saturday night than they did at Northern State 22 hours earlier, converting 46.5% (33-71) from the field including 46% (12-26) from behind the arc. The big difference, however, was at the charity stripe. UIU only made 10 trips to the line (made 7) compared to the 18-19 performance from the home team. Upper Iowa was also outrebounded 38-33, including 31 defensive boards from the Dragons.
 
MSU Moorhead gained an early 10-5 lead, but that would be the largest lead for the home team in the first half. Upper Iowa held a 22-19 lead at the 9:32 mark of the opening half, and then Parker connected on back-to-back triples to build the lead. UIU led 30-22 for their largest lead of the game, but neither team was done. The Dragons tied the game at 32 at the 4:24 mark, and the game would again be tied at 42 with 90 seconds remaining. Rowan scored the final six points of the half for the Peacocks to give UIU a 47-45 lead at the intermission. Upper Iowa led both games at halftime this weekend, dropping both, after winning four straight games they trailed at the half.
 
Parker tallied 20 of his 26 in the first half, connecting on 7-8 from the field and 4-4 from distance. Upper Iowa mustered only 38 points in the second half, shooting 15-37 (40.5%) from the field. There were 11 lead changes in the final 20 minutes alone, and until the final 13 seconds, no lead was larger than six points. Each time one side would threaten to pull away, the other responded in this NSIC classic game. Both teams tied the game six different times in the second half as well.
 
Upper Iowa has lost two games in a row for the first time since their second and third games of the season, and will look to bounce back next weekend at home. UIU returns to Dorman Gymnasium in Fayette for Think Pink Night on Friday against the Minnesota State Mavericks at 8 p.m., before facing the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears for Senior Night on Saturday night at 6 p.m.