The No. 19/23 Peacock men's basketball team raced out to a 25-9 lead just ten minutes into the game, but then had to rally from a double-digit deficit in the second half to pull off a 85-81 victory for a NSIC weekend sweep on the road. With the win, Upper Iowa improves to 14-2 on the season and 8-2 in the Northern Sun keeping their grip on the top spot in the NSIC South Division standings. Bemidji State falls to 6-8 overall and 3-7 in the conference.
 
Joe Smoldt led the Peacock offense with 23 points including six three-pointers after scratching the scoring column just once in UIU's win on Friday night. The super senior came out on fire converting four of his first six long-range attempts during the Peacocks' initial 25-9 run.
 
Jake Hilmer scored 22 points and added seven assists while shooting 7-11 from the floor, 1-1 from three and 7-7 at the charity stripe including UIU's final two points of the game. Nick Reid added nine points and 10 rebounds, while Lucas Duax scored 11 and came up with three steals. Cade Moritz also scored in double figures with 10 and was a huge piece of Upper Iowa's final rally scoring six points in the final five minutes.
 
Travis Bianco attempted to put the Beavers on his back scoring a game-high 31 points with seven rebounds. Dalton Albrecht added 15 points and eight rebounds. BSU ran their offense through the paint scoring a 54-28 advantage in points in the paint and a 15-8 advantage in second chance points thanks to a 22 offensive rebounds.
 
UIU raced out to their 25-9 lead midway through the first half thanks to six three-pointers; four from Smoldt and a pair from Reid. But the Beavers found their stride and began to dig back into the game. Using an 18-4 run, Bemidji State was able to cut the margin to just four points with a little over three minutes to play in the half. The BSU push continued as UIU limped into the locker room with a 36-34 lead after the home team outscored them 25-11 over the final ten minutes of the frame.
 
The second half started in much the same way as a layup from Bianco gave Bemidji State a 40-38 lead less than two minutes into the half. With the score tied at 44-44, BSU went on a 10-0 run to get ahead 54-44 with 12:07 on the clock.  The lead reached its biggest point of 12 with nine minutes to play and still held at 10 points, 67-57, with seven minutes to play.
 
Back-to-back jumpers by Hilmer began to cut into the lead as UIU began to play down just two possessions for a few minutes. After another jumper from Hilmer and three-straight free throws from the right hand of Smoldt shaved the gap down to five, 71-66, with just over five minutes to play. After a BSU score, a three-point play from Lucas Duax cut the margin to four, 73-69, but the home team had an answer and returned their lead to eight, 77-69, with three and a half minutes to play.
 
Upper Iowa launched an 8-0 run to tie the game at the 1:21 mark fueled by a pair of inside buckets from Moritz, a layup for Lucas Duax, and two made free throws from Moritz. After BSU took a 79-77 lead, Hilmer found Joe Smoldt on the right wing for a three-pointer and a one-point lead for UIU. Hilmer stole an errant pass on Bemidji State's next possession and then knocked down a pair of free throws to put the visitors ahead by three. Reid (1-2) and Hilmer (2-2) put the game away with three free throws in the final 15 seconds to post the 85-81 get-ahead/come-from-behind win.
 
Over the final three and a half minutes of the game, Upper Iowa dominated both ends of the floor outscoring Bemidji State 16-4.
 
Upper Iowa will return to the Prochaska Court in Fayette, Iowa on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 14-15. The Peacocks will battle St. Cloud State University on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and then take on the NSIC North leader University of Minnesota Duluth at 3:30 p.m.