Box Score

ST. PAUL – The University of Northwestern is headed back to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the fourth year in a row following a 72-52 defeat of Crown College on Saturday night. The Eagles used a strong second half push to improve upon a nine-point halftime lead en route to winning by 20 in front of a packed Ericksen Center crowd.

Northwestern didn't have its best shooting percentage of the year in the first half, but it was the Eagles defense that allowed UNW to create a gap on the scoreboard. Bryce Williams, who scored 31 points in Crown's upset victory at Minnesota Morris on Thursday, hit a three-pointer to keep his team in the game at 9-8, but the Eagles took off from there, getting makes from four different players to widen the lead at 18-8. James Brown started a mini-run at Crown's basket as his downtown jumper sparked a 6-0 spree for the Storm to get within four at 18-14. But Northwestern's pressure kept Crown from making its next eight shots while Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) and Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) added points to the Eagles' total in the final seconds of the initial period.

Crown continued to feed off of its strong crowd presence in the early minutes of the second half before a 9-0 Eagles run had the gold-laden Northwestern squad leading 46-26 with 12:54 to play. Despite the margin ranging between 14 and 20 points the rest of the way out, the climate would have told you otherwise as the Storm continued to pressure and hit big baskets to keep a glimmer of hope alive. With Crown putting on a full-court press, Northwestern started to find easier baskets under the hoop, leading to the ensuing celebration when the final horn sounded with Northwestern on top by 20.



As a team, Northwestern went 11 of 28 in the first period but started to find the bottom of the net more and more as the game went on. The Eagles used a 52 percent overall shooting mark, and a 57 percent performance from outside the three-point line, in the second half to finish the game at 45 percent overall. On the other end of the court, Crown wrapped up the night at 27 percent after being held to just 6 of 32 in the first 20 minutes.

The Eagles had four players in double digits, with Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School) recording his second double-double of the week to earn the tournament's most valuable player honors. Ooms finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds, with Steven Willey (Fort Calhoun, Neb./Fort Calhoun), Gisler and Carney all recording at least 11 points. As a team, UNW had 16 assists compared to 12 turnovers.

Williams led Crown with 15 points on a 5-22 shooting performance, going 3 of 10 from long range.



Now 16-11, Northwestern will rest for a day before being told who it will face in next weekend's NCAA Tournament first round. A 11:30 a.m. selection show will be broadcast on NCAA.com announcing the full 64-team field.