FAYETTE, Iowa – Upper Iowa University's Carson Parker would hit a floater with four seconds remaining as the Peacocks staved off the University of Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team 82-79 in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament. The game was played Wed., Feb. 22 at Dorman Gymnasium in Fayette, Iowa. The Golden Eagles led 79-77 with 2:11 left in the game, but Upper Iowa would use a layup from Jordan Hay and Parker's floater along with a clutch free throw from Parker to pick up the victory.

UMC had a last-chance opportunity as Riley Rice (Sr., F, Mullen, Neb.) put up a three from the top of the key as time expired but the shot would hit the front of the rim as the Peacocks would pick up the victory.

The Golden Eagles finish the season with an 8-21 mark, just one win short of tying the school record for wins, which was set during the 2000-01 season. Minnesota Crookston would show strides on the season as they had 11 games came down to the final minute of play with UMC getting wins in two of those games.

Upper Iowa moved to 20-9 with the win. The Peacocks advance to play St. Cloud State University Sun., Feb. 26 at 2:30 p.m.

The Golden Eagles would look to 23 points from Harrison Cleary (Fr., G, Oak Creek, Wis.) on 9-of-18 from the field and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. Chase Knickerbocker (So., G/F, Annandale, Minn.) added 20 points on 8-of-14 from the field. Connor Gamble (R-Fr., G, Stillwater, Minn.) would come off of the bench for 15 points on 6-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.

Chase Johnson (Fr., F, La Crosse, Wis.) added seven points, six rebounds and four assists, while Gable Smith (R-So., F, Lodi, Wis.) added six points, six rebounds and four assists.
Minnesota Crookston shot 32-of-62 from the field for 51.6 percent. They were 9-of-20 from beyond the arc for 45.0 percent. They would go 6-of-8 from the charity stripe for 75 percent.

Upper Iowa looked to 20 points from Parker on 7-of-10 from the field. Luke Lenhart added 15 points, including going 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. Hay chipped in 13 points and five boards, while Jimmy Roth had 12 points and six boards.

The Peacocks shot 27-of-58 from the field for 46.6 percent. They were 8-of-18 from behind the three-point line for 44.4 percent. Upper Iowa shot 20-of-24 from the charity stripe for 83.3 percent.
Lenhart would catapult the Peacocks to a 9-2 lead with 17:13 left in the first half after hitting a trio of shots from beyond the arc.

Minnesota Crookston would be able to cut into the lead led by a three-pointer from a Gamble and a long jumper from Smith to make it 13-11. The Golden Eagles would put a stamp on an 8-0 run with a Gamble three-pointer as they took the 14-13 advantage with just over 12 minutes left in the first half.

The Peacocks would quickly take the lead back with a Kam Rowan layup to make it 15-14. A Jace Hanna triple for Upper Iowa would extend the lead to 18-14 in favor of the Peacocks. Upper Iowa would be able to move their lead to 20-15 on a Roth layup. They would push their lead out to 22-15 on a Dennis Austin, III bucket with 9:30 left in the half.

Minnesota Crookston would get a crucial layup from Gamble in a big moment to pull back within 22-17. However, Lenhart bounced back with a big three-pointer to push the advantage back out to 25-17.

The Golden Eagles would use a Riley Rice trey to pull within 25-20, however Lenhart continued his hot shooting and pushed the lead back out to 28-20. The Peacocks would lead 31-22 after a Parker three-pointer.

UMC would respond with a pair of Chase Knickerbocker three-pointers to pull within 31-27 with 4:30 left in the opening half. After a defensive stop in the post, Rice would thread the needle to Knickerbocker for the layup as UMC closed the deficit to 31-29 with the 8-0 run.

Upper Iowa would stave off the Golden Eagles as Hanna found Mitchell Eighme to push the Upper Iowa lead to 33-29. Knickerbocker would continue his strong play as he pulled the Golden Eagles within 33-32. However, the Peacocks responded on the other end with a Roth bucket to make it 35-32. Knickerbocker again responded though as he connected from downtown to knot it up 35-35.

Smith would give UMC the lead 37-35 with a bucket inside. The Golden Eagles would use a Cleary layup with 30 seconds remaining to extend their lead to 39-35. Upper Iowa would cut the lead to 39-37 going into the break as Austin connected on a pair from the charity stripe. UMC outscored Upper Iowa 17-6 in the final 5:46 of the first half.

Minnesota Crookston shot 15-of-30 from the field for 50 percent. They were 6-of-11 from beyond the arc for 54.5 percent and 3-of-5 from the charity stripe for 60 percent. The Golden Eagles were led by 13 points from Knickerbocker on 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Gamble would come off the bench for 10 points on 4-of-6 from the field. Johnson did a great job of distributing the ball from the high post with four assists in the first half.

Upper Iowa was paced by 15 points from Lenhart on 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. Parker led the team with four assists in the first half. The Peacocks were 14-of-31 from the field for 45.2 percent. They would go 7-of-11 from beyond the arc for 63.6 percent and 2-of-2 from the foul line. Upper Iowa narrowly won the rebound battle 17-15.

Minnesota Crookston would open the half with a rare three-pointer from Hall to extend the lead to 42-37. Upper Iowa would get their first scoring of the second half on a jumper from Parker to pull within 42-39. A Johnson bucket would take the lead back out to 44-39 in favor of the Golden Eagles.

Upper Iowa would respond with a pair of Parker free throws and a steal and layup off of the in-bounds pass from Parker to quickly cut the lead to 44-43. The Peacocks would continue a quick 6-0 run as Parker got to the hoop for the layup to put Upper Iowa ahead 45-44.

Minnesota Crookston would take the lead back on a Smith layup to make it 46-45. A Gamble bucket would extend the lead for UMC to 48-45. The Peacocks would pull within 48-47 on a Jordan Hay bucket. However, the Golden Eagles came back with a Knickerbocker triple to make it 51-47.

Upper Iowa would pull within 53-51 as Hay hit 1-of-2 free throws from the charity stripe. Upper Iowa would knot it up 53-53 on an Austin bucket with 14:15 left in the second half. UMC would fend off the Peacocks for the moment with a Cleary layup to make it 55-53. Upper Iowa would come right back with a Josh Weeber basket to tie it up at 55-55. The Golden Eagles responded, this time with a Knickerbocker jumper to make it 57-55.

Upper Iowa would take the lead back on a Roth jumper to make it 58-57 in favor of the Peacocks.  Roth hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 60-57. Cleary would use a pair of free throws to get the Golden Eagles within 62-61 with 10 minutes left in the game.

A pair of free throws for Hay would extend the lead to 64-61. UMC would pull within one point again as Cleary hit the floater to cut the lead to 64-63. The Peacocks would use a 4-0 run culminating with a Rowan layup to extend their lead to 68-63 with eight minutes left in the game. 

Minnesota Crookston then responded with a 5-0 run led by Cleary to knot the game back up at 68-68. The Golden Eagles would take the lead 70-68 as Cleary continued his strong play to make it 7-0 run for Minnesota Crookston.

Upper Iowa would come back and knot it up 72-72 on a pair of Roth free throws. However, UMC responded with a Gamble three-pointer to go up 75-72. Upper Iowa would come back with three free throws to knot it up at 75-75. The Peacocks would take the 77-75 advantage on a Parker basket. UMC would quickly respond with the Cleary jumper on the other end to knot it up 77-77 with 2:36 left in the game.

Cleary would drive to the hoop after a defensive stop for Minnesota Crookston to put the Golden Eagles up 79-77. The Peacocks would come up with the defensive stop on their end leading to a Hay layup to knot it up 79-79.

UMC would get a chance on their half. They would try to get the ball to Cleary but the Peacocks did a great job of denying the freshman. UMC would find Johnson, who put up an errant jumper. Upper Iowa would get the ball with a small differential between the shot clock and game clock. Parker would put up the floater for the Peacocks and make it 81-79.

Minnesota Crookston's Smith would throw the in-bound pass out of bounds giving the ball back to the Peacocks and forcing the Golden Eagles to foul. They would foul Parker and he would hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe.

UMC would get one last chance. The Golden Eagles would find Rice, who put up the three from the top of the key but the shot clanked off of the rim as Rice's career came to a close, as did Xavier Hall's (Sr., G, Woodbury, Minn.).

The Golden Eagles return 10 players from their roster of 12 as they look to continue to improve their standing in the NSIC heading into Head Coach Dan Weisse's fourth season leading the ship.