The No. 24 Peacock men's basketball team put together a tremendous defensive effort in their 84-65 win at home over No. 23 Augustana University. Upper Iowa held their guests to a field goal percentage of 35.8%, while knocking down an efficient 56.9% of their offensive attempts. UIU improves to 11-1 on the season and 5-1 in the Northern Sun, while Augustana suffers just their second loss to move to 10-2 overall and 4-2 in the conference.
 
Jareese Williams (23) and Joe Smoldt (21) combined for 44 of the Upper Iowa's 84 points converting 17 of their 26 shots. The Peacocks knocked down nine of their first 15 shots from long range before going cold and finishing the game with a 39.1% (9-23) from beyond the arc. Inside the three-point line, Upper Iowa's shooters were deadly making 24 of their 35 attempts. Dylan Jones pulled down a team-high seven rebounds to go with 10 points, while Smoldt and Nick Reid added five apiece. Jake Hilmer and Lucas Duax each handed out four assists.
 
Adam Dykman led the Vikings with 17 points and 6 rebounds, while Jameson Bryan scored 13 and Dylan LeBrun netted 11. Upper Iowa's defense forced Augustana into needing 67 field goal attempts to score their 65 points.
 
In the early going, the Vikings jumped out to a 12-7 lead, but Upper Iowa went on a quick 9-0 run that turned the tables on their guests and gave the home team a 16-12 lead. Smoldt scored seven of the nine points for Upper Iowa during the outburst. UIU kept the heat on for the final eleven and a half minutes outscoring Augie 24-15 to claim a 40-27 lead at the break. Down the stretch, Williams scored 13 of the Peacocks' final 24 points in the half.
 
In the second half, the Peacocks picked up right where they left off with a 16-4 run that pushed their advantage to 25 points, 56-31, less than four and a half minutes into the action. The opening run was fueled by five points from Williams and Hilmer, four from Smoldt and a lay in from Jones.
 
Augustana rallied with a 14-6 run of their own that cut the gap to 17 points, 62-45, but a layup from Smoldt and three-pointer from Max Duax pushed the margin back above 20 midway through the half. The Vikings chipped away at the Peacock lead dropping the difference to a low of 13 points, 77-64, with three minutes to play, but Upper Iowa outscored Augustana 7-1 in the final three minutes to come away with an 84-65 victory.
 
Upper Iowa returns to Prochaska Court on Saturday, Dec. 18. The Peacocks welcome the Wildcats of Wayne State College to Dorman Memorial Gymnasium for a 3:30 p.m. tip.