Upper Iowa University Athletics

FAYETTE, Iowa - Peacock men's basketball (2-0) beat Wisconsin-Parkside (0-1), 78-68 on Friday. Jack Miller led all scorers with 23 points, hitting his first eight shots of the game. The junior recorded a career-best 9-of-11 (81.8%) from the field and 5-for-5 from three. 

Miller scored five of Upper Iowa's first 14 points of the game, guiding the team to a 14-11 lead with 15 minutes left in the half. A minute later, UWP tied the game off a Stevie Clark and-one. 

Both teams battled back and forth the rest of the half, with each team taking the lead two different times. Miller drained a three from the left wing to give the Peacocks a 40-37 advantage heading into the break. 

The Jesup, Iowa native posted 18 points in the first half, shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range. Defensively, Ty Pflughaupt led the team with three blocks, and Eric Kenesie led with two steals. 

The Rangers took a 56-51 lead after hitting back-to-back 3-pointers with 13 and a half minutes left in the second half. The threes were scored by Micah Deaver and Tevin Schultz

Five minutes later, Upper Iowa took back the lead after going on an 8-0 run. The run ended with a Miller pull-up shot, giving UIU a 67-64 advantage. Petersen led the run with four points. 

With a little under three minutes to go, Petersen knocked down a three to extend the Peacocks' lead to five. Deaver then made a layup to trim the lead down to 71-68. 

Upper Iowa responded with a final 7-0 spurt, securing the 78-68 victory. Ben Bockman knocked down the dagger with a 3-pointer to go up eight with 35 seconds left, while Petersen and Pflughaupt had a pair of free throws down the stretch. 

Miller totaled 23 points, six rebounds and an assist. Petersen posted 14 points, going 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, along with adding two rebounds and an assist. Bockman boasted 12 points, shooting 4-for-6 (66.7%) from deep. He also recorded two rebounds and an assist. 

Pflughaupt and Cael Reichter each scored eight points. Pflughaupt also had eight rebounds, a career-high three steals and a career-high four blocks. Kenesie had a team-high four assists and three steals. 

Brian Hawthorne, Mong and Deaver all posted 10 points for the Rangers. Deaver also had a team-best seven rebounds. 

UIU shot 27-for-53 (50.9%) from the field, 10-for-23 (43.5%) from deep and 14-for-19 (73.7%) from the free-throw line. UWP was 25-of-56 (44.6%) from the floor, 10-of-29 (34.5%) from three and 8-of-11 from the charity stripe. Parkside missed its last 13 3-pointers after making four straight before those misses.

The Peacocks led the Rangers, 9-5 in steals and 6-2 in blocks. UWP led UIU 13-11 in assists, 28-23 in bench points and 30-28 in rebounds. 

Each team committed 15 fouls. There were a total of 22 lead changes and seven ties. 

Upper Iowa ends the crossover by taking on Roosevelt (Ill.) (1-1) on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. The Lakers are 1-1 against GLVC opponents, beating Maryville (Mo.) (0-2), 75-70, on Nov. 9, but lost 90-71 to Illinois Springfield (2-0) in Friday's first game.