Seven years ago, the Peacock men's basketball team earned a come-from-behind, 81-75 victory over the University of Missouri-St. Louis in Dorman Memorial Gymnasium. The win was Upper Iowa's first of the season and Head Coach Brooks McKowen's career-first. In his seven years at the helm, McKowen has led the Peacocks to 114 wins including 81 against Northern Sun Conference opponents.
 
The game also featured three future, 1000-point scorers for Upper Iowa. Sophomore Jordan Hay and freshmen Jimmy Roth and Josh Weeber all contributed to the balanced scoring attack that led the home team to victory. Roth scored 10, while Hay and Weeber each added 9. Senior Grant Lang came off the bench to score a team-high 12 and fellow senior David Smith added 10 from the point guard position. Junior Bo Pagel and freshman Jace Hanna each netted 9, while two other Peacocks combined for 13.
 
Upper Iowa finished the season with a 16-14 record overall and a 13-8 mark in the NSIC. The Peacocks' season ended in the quarterfinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
 
You can read all about the game in the recap below from Nov. 19, 2013. To check out what else has happened on this date over the last 15 years, check out this link... UIUPeacocks.com/OTD.

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Peacocks Complete Comeback Over UMSL 81-75; Earn First Victory of 2013
11/19/2013 || Upper Iowa 81 – Missouri-St. Louis 75 || Box Score

The Peacocks used a stifling defense and an aggressive attack at the rim in the second half to rally from a 15-point deficit to win by six and earn their first victory of the 2013 season over visiting Missouri-St. Louis, 81-75, inside Dorman Gym on Tuesday night. UIU's offensive attack was spearheaded by Grant Lang who finished with 12 points, but the Peacocks had seven players score nine or more points against the Tritons.

With just seven minutes remaining in regulation and the Peacocks trailing by seven points in their contest with the Tritons of the University of Missouri – St. Louis, the Peacocks mounted a strong comeback to seal their first victory of the 2013 season. Grant Lang converted a layup to cut it to a five-point game before Jordan Hay rejected his second shot in the game under the Triton's hoop. UIU cut it to three with two free throws before UMSL got one of their own.

After a timeout, UIU tied the game on a drive and layup from David Smith tying the game at 71 with 2:53 left. The Tritons didn't wait very long to retake the lead off a Aareon Smith jumper at the 2:16 mark. Again, Smith drove to the hoop, but this time he kicked it out to the corner. Hay was waiting for it and he knocked down the biggest shot of the game as his trey gave the Peacocks their first lead since the 10:53 mark in the first half, 74-73.

That three-pointer and another layup from Smith – one he laid off the glass softly with his left-hand – propelled the Peacocks to victory inside Dorman Gym on Tuesday night, 81-75, in non-conference play.

The win marked Brooks McKowen's first as a head coach and the significance of winning in front of a home crowd, which included his dad and UIU Hall of Famer Marty McKowen, was something he embraced after the game.

The Peacocks took an early lead, 11-5, six minutes into the game, but the visitors stormed back to score 45 points in the first half. The Tritons owned a six-point lead at halftime thanks to 13 points off turnovers and 25 points from their bench.

The second half was a completely different story and it felt like a different game. The Tritons punched UIU in the mouth right off the bat as UMSL led by 15 points less than four minutes into the second half, but the Peacocks stormed back with a tenacious defense and a hunger for getting to the rim.

Kierre Ogbonna, Jace Hanna, Austin Mecca, Lang and Hay stepped onto the court and helped UIU chip away at the UMSL lead. In just a three-minute span, the Peacocks had crawled back within three points of their guests thanks to buckets in the paint from Mecca and Ogbonna, a three from Ogbonna and two free throws from Hanna.

The Tritons pushed back with a mini-offensive spurt of their own as they regained a double-digit lead, 68-57, with 8:52 left in regulation. The Peacocks turned to their defense again as they held UMSL to just three buckets on 13 attempts in the final eight minutes.

Despite only shooting 62-percent from the charity stripe in the game, UIU converted three of four from the line in the final two minutes to seal the win, 81-75.

After giving up 45 points and a 53-percent shooting clip to the Tritons in the first half, UIU's renewed defense held UMSL to just 34-percent shooting and 30 total points in the final 20 minutes of action.

Lang led all scorers with 12 points, while six other Peacocks finished with nine or more points. The Peacocks shot 44-percent from deep and 53-percent from the floor in the game.


The Peacocks won the battle of the boards for the first time this season as they outrebounded the Tritons, 38-30.