The Upper Iowa men's basketball team picked up the victory in their home opener against the Quincy Hawks on Friday night by a score of 104-92. Both sides will move to 1-2 on the season with the Peacocks earning their first win of the 2018 campaign.

The Hawks and Peacocks battled through a closely contested first half that saw the score come level 9 separate times and the lead change hands 12 times.  With the Hawks up 34-32, Joe Smoldt hit a three to put the Peacocks back in the lead and kicked off an 11-4 run to bring the Peacocks into the half with a 43-38 lead.

The Peacocks returned from the locker room firing on all cylinders thanks to five quick points from Jareese Williams to give Upper Iowa a ten-point lead. The Hawks battled their way back and closed the cap to just four points when Kyle Haber kicked off the Peacock's second big run of the night with one of his five 3-pointers of the night. Upper Iowa outscored Quincy 14-5 in a run that saw Haber and Chris Olson sink four 3-pointers and not miss a single shot. Quincy immediately answered with a 12-4 run of their own but could not quite close the gap and catch Upper Iowa. The Peacocks closed out the second period shooting 64% from beyond the arc and 62% from the floor. 

Williams (29) and Haber (17) both recorded career highs and combined to account for 11 of UIU's 15 buckets from beyond the arc to led the Peacock offense. Along with Williams and Haber, three other Peacocks turned in double-digit scoring performances with Munachiso Okonkwo (17), Smoldt (16), and Olson (10). 

The last time Upper Iowa broke the 100-point mark was almost a year ago to the date, topping Truman State 110-92 at the 2017 Northwest Missouri State Tournament on November 17th of last year. 

The Peacocks will hit the floor next week for a pair of games at the Drury Thanksgiving Tourney. Upper Iowa will square off against Drury on Friday and then matchup against Missouri S&T on Saturday afternoon.