Men's Basketball starts season on the right foot, beats North Central 72-55

Box Score

ST. PAUL (Nov. 21, 2008) – The Northwestern College men's basketball team won its first game of the season on Friday, defeating North Central University 72-55 on the Ericksen Center court. Northwestern used a strong rebounding effort to propel themselves into the championship game of the Radisson Tip-Off Tournament, which the Eagles are hosting.

Stephen Hanson (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha) (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) led all players with 22 points, while Reid Berens (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) posted a strong double-double for Northwestern. Berens had 12 offensive rebounds to add to his overall game total of 18 while scoring 14 points in 33 minutes. As a team, NWC out-rebounded its opponents 59-27.

Eagles' head coach Tim Grosz also received a strong performance from freshman Gabe Jefferson (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast) (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast), who tallied 11 points and seven rebounds while starting in his first official collegiate game. Point guard Eric Garst (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain) (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain) paced NWC well, scoring 10 points while dishing out six assists.

North Central had three players hit double digits, including Chris Hickox, who led the Rams with 14 points.

Northwestern (1-0) will play Judson University, who defeated UW-River Falls earlier in the day in the other semifinal game. The Eagles will need to bring a strong defensive performance to limit the fast Judson team that likes to run the court. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

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