NWC drops UMAC tournament game to Bethany Lutheran

Box Score

ST. PAUL – Bethany Lutheran College beat Northwestern College in the Ericksen Center for the first time in five attempts, riding the hot hand of Jeff Zimmerman. Zimmerman, who went 0-for-4 in the first half, caught fire in the second, making seven three-pointers in the second 20 minutes to lead the sixth-seeded Vikings to a 65-64 win in the opening round of the UMAC tournament.

Northwestern, who entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed, turned a 10-9 deficit into a 10 point lead at the 8:07 mark, courtesy of a layup by Reid Berens (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) (LIno Lakes, Minn./Centennial). The Eagles increased their lead over the next four minutes, as five straight points from Eric Garst (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain) (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain) and another layup from Berens put NWC up 29-15 with 4:12 to play in the half. Bethany posted a mini rally of its own before Northwestern owned a 29-19 lead going into the break.

After the Eagles pushed the lead to 12 points again to start the second half, the Vikings went on a 11-0 run, courtesy of three straight threes, to tie the game at 39-39 with 12:35 to play. Zimmerman started to heat up, making five consecutive shots in less than three minutes to throttle Bethany Lutheran.

In a game of constant runs from both teams, NWC took a seven point lead once again as Berens drained a three. BLC quickly turned the tide within the final five minutes, as three more threes from Zimmerman and a three point play from Shimi Colbert brought the visitors within two. Colbert followed another Zimmerman deep ball with a layup of his own, and the score was knotted at 61-61. After the Eagles and Vikings traded points in the paint with 20 seconds of one another, Bethany's Andy Wills found the basket with 2.6 seconds remaining. Northwestern's final full-court pass play wasn't successful, and the Vikings left with a win and a ticket to play Martin Luther in hand.

The Eagles finished 25 of 49 from the field, making an even 51 percent of their shots. Bethany, who made 28 percent of its attempts in the first half, rebounded with a 55 percent rate in the second half to even out at 41.7 percent. Northwestern owned a 10-board edge in rebounding, but free throw shooting down the stretch, including several missed one-and-one attempts, was the team's downfall, as the Eagles finished 5 of 9 from the charity stripe.

Berens posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead NWC, while Steve Discher (Andover, Minn./Andover) (Andover, Minn./Andover) made a nice return from a nagging injury with 13 points. Stephen Hanson (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha) finished 4-for-8 for 10 points.

Zimmerman finished 9 of 18 overall and 7 of 14 from behind the three-point line for 25 points. Wills finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Colbert and Stephone Frederick each had 10 points. Tommy Saffert, who averaged 16.4 points per game in UMAC contests, was held scoreless on the night.

Northwestern (18-8, 10-4 UMAC) makes an unexpected early exit from the UMAC tournament after winning the event in 2008. Bethany Lutheran (12-14, 6-9 UMAC) will continue on in the tournament, and will face its chief rival in Martin Luther on Thursday in a 7:30 p.m. bout in New Ulm, Minn.

The Eagles still have the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) region tournament to fall back on, which they will host at some point during the week of March 2-7. A final date and time, along with NWC's opponent, has yet to be determined. Stay tuned to nwceagles.com for more details as they become available.

To follow the UMAC tournament, click here to access the tournament website.

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NWC drops UMAC tournament game to Bethany Lutheran