The Peacock men's basketball team suffered a third-straight loss as their offense struggled to generate points for the second-straight night. Augustana's offense shot 67% in the first half and claimed a 27-point advantage at the break. UIU won the second half, but fell by an 86-65 score. The Peacocks are now 13-11 overall and 10-8 in the NSIC, while Augie improves to 12-12 overall and 8-10 in the conference.
 
Jadan Graves led the Vikings with 23 points fueled by six three-pointers and added five assists and four rebounds. Isaac Fink added 19 points and nine rebounds, while Caden Hinker came off the bench to notch 12 points and nine rebounds.
 
For the game, the Vikings shot 53.3% from the floor, 47.6% from three and 85.7% from the charity stripe.
 
Lucas Duax led the Peacocks with 19 points on 8-12 shooting and tallied three assists and three steals. The senior guard is now just one steal shy of the program record held by Kevin Clipperton, who had 207 in his four-year, Hall of Fame career.
 
Jake Hilmer added 16 points and five assists, while Caleb Delzell recorded 11 points and Nick Reid grabbed 10 points.
 
Augustana dominated the battle on the glass with a 43-20 advantage on the backboard including a 14-6 advantage in offensive rebounds.
 
After shooting 25.8% in the first half, the Peacocks were much better in the second half knocking down 60.7% of their shots (17-28), but the first-half hole was too deep to overcome.
 
The turning point in the game came over seven minutes in the first half. Augustana led Upper Iowa 15-13 with 12:02 showing on the clock, but the Vikings used a 26-6 run over a seven-minute span to go from a two-point lead to a 22-point lead, 41-16. During the run, UIU made just two of the 12 shots and one of their four free throws, while Augustana converted 11 of 13 shots including three of their four deep attempts.
 
In NSIC action on Saturday, all four of the top teams in the standings lost to the bottom four teams in the standings and now only three games separate first and seventh place in the division. UIU is still tied for second with Southwest Minnesota State University, while the University of Sioux Falls and Wayne State College sit one game ahead in first place.
 
UIU will head west to face Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10-11.