The Peacock men's basketball team played their biggest game of the season Friday night on Pink Night in Dorman Gymnasium in Fayette. Upper Iowa was in a physical battle with the Wildcats of Wayne State College all night long, and withstood a second-half rally to top their guests, 73-68. Despite being outscored 41-34 in the second half, UIU made key shots and earned hard-fought defensive stops to earn the victory. With the win, the Peacocks improve to 16-14 overall and 9-12 in the Northern Sun Conference. WSC drops to 14-15 overall and 9-12 in league play with the loss.

Trailing Wayne State by a game in the standings, Upper Iowa knew they needed this one at home. UIU now holds the immediate tie-breaker with the Wildcats via head-to-head, and now with a game left in the regular season, Augustana University, Upper Iowa, and Wayne State are all just a game separated in the south division.

Carson Parker, as he has done all season long, led the way for UIU on Friday, scoring 19 points on 7-12 from the floor, including 3-4 from behind the arc. The senior added three assists and two rebounds to round out his night, playing all 40 minutes of basketball. Redshirt junior Kam Rowan added 17 points off the bench on 7-15 shooting, and dished out a game-best six assists as well. Joe Smoldt's 10 points rounded out three Peacocks in double figures, despite missing some minutes in the second half. Munachiso Okonkwo, Dennis Austin III, and Jareese Williams each tallied eight points, and Okonkwo added eight rebounds to lead the squad.

After trailing early on by five points, 7-2, the Peacocks found a rhythm in the first half. An immediate 8-0 run was ignited by Parker and Williams to get the home team going. From that point on, both teams went back and forth, with the lead exchanging hands five times. UIU put their best stretch of the game together from the 4:12 mark of the first half to the 19:25 point of the second stanza. In that span of 4:47, Upper Iowa outscored Wayne State 21-9. Parker, Williams, and Smoldt hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to kick-start the run, while Rowan worked hard to score in the interior. The half was capped with a Quentin Blaue trifecta with 16 seconds left to push the halftime lead to 12, 39-27.

In the first half, UIU shot 50% (15-30) from the floor, including 6-8 from behind the arc. Defense was the key, as the Peacocks held Wayne State to 37% (12-31) shooting including just 1-9 from distance. UIU also forced eight turnovers, leading to 12 points off takeaways as well.

The Wildcats, however, were not done. Trailing 42-29 early in the second half, Wayne State erased the deficit with a 13-0 run of their own to tie the game at 42 with 13:50 to play. The guests held Upper Iowa without a point for 5:43 of game time, with the drought coming to a close with a Parker layup. The senior then hit a three to immediately push the lead back to five points, 49-44. The lead got as large as seven points in the second half on three separate occasions, but WSC did not go away. The visitors got as close as one, trailing 64-63 with 2:08 to play.

Rowan connected on a contested layup on the ensuing possession, and after a defensive stand, made the biggest play of the game. The Champaign, Ill. native took a pass in the paint and turned in mid-air while being fouled to connect on a reverse layup with 1:05 left. The and-one free throw pushed the UIU lead to 69-63. Free throws by Parker and another layup by Rowan iced the game, as the Peacocks held on for a 73-68 victory.

Tomorrow night, Upper Iowa will honor their two seniors, Parker and Mitch Eighme, for Senior Night 2018. The Peacocks will host the Augustana Vikings on their final game in Dorman Gymnasium, with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m.