Box Score
ST. PAUL -- The Northwestern College men's basketball team won its ninth consecutive game on Saturday evening, defeating Crown College 85-63. The Eagles scored the game's first six points and never looked back, leading by as much as 28 in the second half.
With a packed house at the Ericksen Center and both teams' coaching staffs in tennis shoes to support the NABC's Coaches vs. Cancer campaign, the Eagles held a nine-point lead before four minutes had ticked off of the clock. Four of NWC's first five made baskets were layups, and the other was a three-pointer by Gabe Jefferson (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast) (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast). After the Storm cut Northwestern's lead to four points at 18-14, the Eagles went on a tear, outscoring their opponents 20-6 over the next 10 minutes to go into halftime with an 18-point advantage. NWC didn't stop pouring on the offense in the second half, as the home crowd saw its team lead by 20, 25 and 28 before ending the game with a 22-point victory.
Northwestern made nearly 48 percent of its attempts on the night while forcing 16 Crown turnovers to go with a 30 percent shooting percentage by the Storm. Crown posted 19 offensive rebounds and had eight more shot attempts in the game, but the Eagles dominated in the paint (36-18) and in points off of turnovers (16-9). NWC received 38 of its 85 points from its bench players.
Reid Berens (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) made eight of his 12 attempts for 19 points while falling just one rebound short of a double-double at nine. Berens was joined in double figures by Wade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) (16 points), Stephen Hanson (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha) (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) (11) and Tom Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) (10). Robbie Anderstrom (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) grabbed nine boards off of the glass to go with seven points. In 17 minutes, Aaron Reep (Springfield, Ohio/Emmanuel Christian) (Springfield, Ohio/Emmanuel Christian) dished out six assists.
Jake Jarvis scored 18 points to lead Crown, while Mike Landers added 16.
With the win, Northwestern improves its UMAC record to 7-1 while upping its overall mark to 13-6. Crown falls to 3-15 (3-5 UMAC) with the loss.
The Eagles will have nearly a full week to prepare for their next set of conference opponents in Bethany Lutheran College and Martin Luther College. Northwestern will welcome the Vikings of Bethany Lutheran to St. Paul for a 7:30 p.m. game on Friday, Feb. 5 before playing the Knights of Martin Luther less than 24 hours later at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6.
