Upper Iowa defeated Augustana University by a 98-88 count on Friday night. Jareese Williams set a career-high in made three-pointers seven minutes into the second half as he connected on seven of his first eight attempts from downtown. Lucas Duax set a career-high in rebounds a minute after Williams made his mark and ended the night with nine, one shy of a double-double. Duax passed 20 points for the second consecutive game and for the third time in his career. Williams came within one score of reaching his career-best 30 points. Augustana had five scorers in double figures who helped fuel the high-scoring affair. With the win, Upper Iowa improves to 4-5 on the year, 2-3 in NSIC play while Augustana falls to 5-4, 3-4 in the conference.

After the night began with the lead seesawing back-and-forth between the two teams, Augustana broke off on a 10-0 run to claim a 34-27 lead over UIU with 5:04 to go in the opening period. Jareese WIlliams connected on four consecutive three-point attempts in a 2:02 span late in the first frame carrying the Upper Iowa offense against the fast-paced Viking attack. Augie held their seven-point advantage following the run as they led 52-45 at the break. 

Cade Moritz returned for the Peacocks after missing the first eight games due to injury. Moritz made an immediate impact in the paint as Upper Iowa outscored Augustana 20-8 down low in part thanks to a trio of buckets from Moritz in the first half. UIU's reserves contributed 15 first-half points compared to just three from AU's bench. Williams led all scorers in the first half with 15 points, all of which came from beyond the arc where he held a 5-6 (83.3%) clip. 

The Peacocks tore open the second half beginning with a 16-5 advantage that gave UIU the lead for the first time in over 11 minutes. The run was highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Joe Smoldt and yet another trifecta from Williams making the score 61-57 at the 15:02 mark. Upper Iowa followed up with a 12-2 stretch that gave UIU its largest lead of the day at 76-65 with 11:36 to play. Duax joined the scoring spree providing half of the points scored during the run. The Peacocks held onto their advantage for the remainder of the game ending the contest ahead 98-88.

STATS OF THE GAME… 

• Augustana came down with just two more rebounds than Upper Iowa despite holding an NSIC second-best +7.8 margin on the glass headed into the night. 

• Augie shot the lights out from deep in the first-half posting a 9-13 (69.2%) rate but struggled from beyond the arc in the following period with a 2-12 (16.7%) mark.

• UIU out performed AU at all three scoring levels; 34-69 (49.3%) to 29-62 (46.8%) from the field, 15-32 (46.9%) to 11-25 (44%) from downtown, and 15-18 (83.3%) to 19-25 (76%) from the charity stripe. 

• The Peacocks dished out 22 assists compared to 13 tallied by the Vikings.

• Headed into the night, Upper Iowa (9.6) and Augustana (9.8) committed the second and third least turnovers in the nation, respectively. The two teams got the best of each other as UIU coughed up the ball 11 times while forcing AU to commit 14 turnovers on the opposite end.

PEACOCKS OF THE GAME… 

• Williams led all scorers with 29 points on a 56/58/100 clip, the total ties any Peacocks' season-high to date. Williams did it all adding four rebounds, two assists, and three steals to his stat line.

• Duax scored 22 points on a 9-14 (64.3%) rate from the floor. The sophomore also registered a career-high nine rebounds as well as four assists and a steal.

• Smoldt posted 15 points on a 50/50/100 clip to go along with three boards and three assists.

UP NEXT… The two teams will square off again on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m.