SIOUX FALLS – Led by another stalwart defense effort and four players in double digits, the University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team (9-8, 5-4 NSIC) picked up a third consecutive win by stopping Upper Iowa, 71-55, at the Stewart Center on Friday night.

With the victory, not only did the Cougars move past .500 on the season at 9-8, they pushed their NSIC mark to 5-4 with the double digit decision against the Peacocks, which came in as one of the leaders in the NSIC South. The Peacocks fell to 10-5 overall and 7-2 in league play as the Cougars bottled up their offense. In addition, the win was big in another way for the Cougars' faithful as USF head men's basketball coach Chris Johnson picked up career win 150.

"I couldn't be more pleased with the way we played defense tonight," said Johnson of his squad which leads the NSIC in scoring defense (68.3 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (40.3 percent). "While we didn't have a great night shooting, we really worked hard on the defensive end. And, these guys did it against a talented offensive team in Upper Iowa, which came in as a co-leader in our division," he said.

As for the defense, USF limited Upper Iowa to 33.3 percent shooting from the field on 21-of-63 shooting. In addition, the Cougars held UIU to 3-of-20 from three point range or 15 percent. In addition, USF held a 44-38 rebound edge, winning the board battle for the 14th time in 17 outings. USF forced 10 turnovers, and recorded five steals. It is the third straight game that the Cougars have held an opponent far below their season average. In fact, for the third straight game, USF held their opponent to 62 points or fewer.

Leading the Cougars offensively was Mack Johnson, who had 19 points and six rebounds to go with three assists. Johnson had double digits in points for the 69th time in his career and 12th time in 2016-17. Also reaching double digits was Daniel Hurtt with 17 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Senior Clint Thomas added 12 points, including eight during a three-minute stretch of the second half. Junior point guard Zach Wessels added 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. For Wessels, he reached double digits in points for the fourth straight game.

As a team, the Cougars hit 22-of-59 from the field for 37.3 percent, including 9-of-25 from three point range for 36 percent. USF was a torrid 20-22 from the foul line for 90.9 percent. It was their second-best performance from the line this season (Winona State, 18-of-19, .94.7 percent, Dec. 2).

While both team's offense improved in the second half, the opening 20 minutes was a defensive battle with the Cougars building a 12-point lead and taking a 27-22 lead at the break. USF outscored Upper Iowa, 46-35 in the second half.

Early on Wessels had two baskets to give USF a 4-2 lead with UIU grabbing a 5-4 lead at the 13:40 mark. It was the Peacocks' final lead of the night. USF had consecutive three pointers from M. Johnson and Hurtt for a 10-5 advantage with 12:53 to play in the opening half. A three pointer from Drew Guebert pushed the lead to 17-9 at the 8:27 mark. It wasn't until 7:16 remained in the opening half that UIU reached double digits in points as the Cougars defense hounded the Peacocks all night.

USF, using a 10-6 run, pushed the lead to 27-15 when Tom Aase scored inside at the 3:37 mark. But the Peacocks, which were led in scoring by Kim Rowan with 14 points, closed the half on a 7-0 run to crawl within 27-22 at the break. In the opening half, USF held UIU to just 8-of-31 from the floor for 25.8 percent. They made just 1-of-9 from three-point range. USF was a little better, making 10-of-31 shots for 32.3 percent and 5-of-14 from distance for 35.7 percent.

UIU pulled within three points three times in the second half, including at 29-26 at the 18:12 mark when Jimmy Roth, who had 10 points in the night, hit a jumper. But this was the Cougars night as they got a little revenge for a two-point setback (78-76) on Dec. 3 at Upper Iowa.

The Cougars took a 33-26 lead with 16:21 to play on a Hurtt lay-up but UIU stayed close after Rowan's jumper cut the margin to 35-32 at the 13:57 mark. From that point, USF took control as Thomas scored eight points over a 2:20 stretch as the Cougars took a 46-37 lead.

Two foul shots by Wessels and Guebert's second three of the game increased USF's advantage to 53-37, which culminated an 18-5 run over a five minute time frame. After that, UIU couldn't draw any closer than 58-45 (6:12). Two foul shots by Thomas with 43 seconds to play gave USF its biggest margin of the game at 18 points and enabled the Cougars to record an important league win and even their home record at 5-5.

On Saturday, USF will be back in action with an NSIC battle against Winona State, starting at 6 p.m. from the Stewart Center.