KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Jake Velky (24 points) and Connor Erickson (pictured/21 points) both tied their career highs on Saturday afternoon as the Truman men's basketball team won its 2016-17 home opener over Upper Iowa, 87-76.

With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 3-1 while the Peacocks fell to 1-3. Not only did Erickson turn in Truman's first double-double of the season, but he did so in 25 minutes of action on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and 5-for-6 at the free throw line. Velky did his damage in 35 minutes on the floor and also had two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Cory Myers and Kyle Kanaskie each had 10-point games while Myers led the team in assists with four, Dwight Sistrunk, Jr. had three steals and Billy Daniel swatted three attempts.

As a team, the Bulldogs shot over 50 percent from the floor (28-of-55), including 46 percent from behind the arc (6-for-13) and 78 percent at the charity stripe (25-of-32). Truman also led Upper Iowa in points off turnovers (14-12), bench points (20-17) and fast-break points (6-2).

The away team scored the first bucket, but that was part of an 11-4 run by the home team through the first five minutes and Velky had five of those 11 points. After the visitors tied things up with seven straight points of their own, the Bulldogs rattled off eight in a row and were up eight, 19-11, with 9:16 to go in the first half. Four different players contributed to those eight points for Truman. For the rest of the first half, the scoring was much more balanced as the Bulldogs outscored the Peacocks 28-23 and headed into the locker room up three, 42-39.

Truman never surrendered its lead and aside from 2-2 and 11-11, the score wasn't tied again. The closest Upper Iowa could get was one, 42-41, with a layup from Jordan Hay to begin the second period and the Bulldogs led by as many as 13, 87-74, with just 28 seconds until the final buzzer. In the final minute, Truman was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line with makes from Myers, Velky and Kanaskie.

Next up, the Bulldogs will host Hannibal-LaGrange on Tuesday with the start time set for 7 p.m. inside Pershing Arena.