WINONA, Minn. – Sophomore Isaiah Gray scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Winona State men's basketball team to an 89-70 win over Upper Iowa in the NSIC opener Saturday evening in McCown Gym.

Gray topped his previous career high of 24 points set just last Saturday in a win over Cardinal Stritch. Gray was dialed in from the charity stripe, going to the line 19 times and sinking 17 of his shots – including the first 16. He also went 5-of-8 from the field and was 2-for-2 from beyond the arc while tying his career high with nine rebounds in just 25 minutes of action off the bench.

The Warriors dug themselves an early hole, falling behind by double digits at 25-15 with 7:52 to play thanks to an 11-4 Peacock run capped off by a Grant Lang layup. During that run, the Warriors had four consecutive turnovers in a span of just over a minute.

WSU answered quickly and emphatically, with a 13-0 run of its own – with 10 of those coming from Gray – to take a 28-25 lead with 3:22 to play. The two teams would trade leads in the final minutes of the half, but a 6-2 run to end it put WSU up 36-32 at the break. The Warriors shot 42 percent in the first half while the Peacocks made 36 percent of their shots.

By the midway point in the second half, the Warriors had opened up a 20-point advantage at 63-43 thanks to a 17-7 run. The Peacocks would get no closer than 13 points as WSU cruised to the 89-70 win.

The Warriors held a commanding edge in rebounding, grabbing 57 rebounds compared to just 27 from the Peacocks. WSU also committed a season-high 20 turnovers while UIU had just eight.

Mark Blacklock had a season-high 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 6-of-7 from the free throw line, while Riley Bambenek added 16 points and nine rebounds while recording two blocks and two steals. Kyle Bauman and Conrad Masberg each grabbed eight rebounds.

The game was whistled extremely tightly, as each team attempted 38 free throws – the Warriors made 31 (82 percent) of them – and saw a total of 56 fouls combined.

Winona State (4-1, 1-0 NSIC) heads on the road for the first time this season next weekend when it heads to Southwest Minnesota State for an 8 p.m. tipoff Friday night before traveling to Sioux Falls for a 6 p.m. matchup on Saturday.