Upper Iowa men's basketball vied with Northern Michigan at JustAGame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells and came up short in a 79-76 final. The contest was a back-and-forth match as neither squad led by more than seven points, and the game saw 25 lead changes.
The Peacocks' last advantage of the game was at 73-72 with 49 seconds remaining. The Wildcats kick-started a 7-0 run behind a three-point make from the wing, which was followed up by a momentous and-one layup and one bonus free throw.
NMU held a 79-73 lead with five seconds left after a missed bonus free throw, but a Jack Miller long-distance shot from long range put UIU behind by three (79-76). The Wildcats inbounded the ball but stepped out of the bounds, giving the Peacocks the ball with 0.3 remaining on the clock. With only the ability to catch and shoot immediately, the blue and white were unable to get off an attempt in the allotted amount of time.
Upper Iowa led 34-33 at halftime after ending the first stint on a 5-0 run. In the first 20 minutes of the game, the scoring spread was never more than four points. The Peacocks saw their biggest lead of the contest in the opening minutes of the second period as they strung together another five unanswered points out of the half to go ahead 39-33. The buckets were a driving layup by Kyle Hrncir and a shot on the wing beyond the arc from Noah King.
The next two scores from UIU were three-pointers, netted by Nick Reid and Gavin Hershberger for the 45-38 lead with 17:29 remaining. The Wildcats showed their resilience and slowly chipped away at the deficit, regaining the lead, 56-55, with ten minutes left to play.
Nick Reid led the team with 20 points, followed by Noah King with 11 and both Kyle Hrncir and Jack Miller with 10.
The Peacocks went 22-27 from the charity stripe and shot 35% from the field. The Wildcats converted 53% from the floor.
UIU converted 19 points from NMU's 17 turnovers and held the advantage in fast break points 22-7.
Men's basketball is back in action on Thursday, Dec. 19 in Chicago, Ill. against Roosevelt.
