Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS -- Despite out-rebounding their opponents, the Northwestern College men's basketball team gave up 46 points in the paint as North Central University won 93-86 on the Rams' home court.  For the third straight game, the Eagles' opponent shot over 50 percent from the floor as North Central finished 63 percent overall while draining half of its three-point attempts.

Northwestern, who beat the Rams in the Eagles' second game of the season in the Ericksen Center, led early in the game until a Nathan Roeder three-point basket gave NCU a 12-11 advantage just over four minutes into the action.  The Rams' margin grew to as much as eight in the first half, fueled by a 13-5 run.  The Eagles didn't give up, cutting North Central's lead to five before Lance Westberg (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) nailed a shot from behind the three-point arc that brought the Purple and Gold within two points at halftime.

Wade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) hit a two-point jumper three minutes into the second period before Gabe Jefferson (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast) (Lincoln, Neb./Southeast) delivered a three-pointer to give the Eagles a four-point edge with 15 minutes to play in the game.  North Central rallied back to tie the score at 59-59 before a two-point lead turned into a 79-71 margin with under five minutes to go.  A made field goal by Roeder gave the Rams a double-digit lead, paving the way for a host of successful attempts at the free throw line and North Central's fourth win in its last five contests.

Although many chances at the charity stripe came at the end of the game for NCU, neither team struggled to find their way to the free throw line throughout the game.  Northwestern was 12-17 from 10 feet away, while the Rams finished a whopping 21-27, including a Roeder's 12-15 mark.  While the Eagles' shooting percentage continued to creep up from the beginning of the season at 46 percent, it was no match for the hot hand of North Central.

Tom Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) and Jefferson each had a team-best 17 points for Northwestern.  Jefferson, who celebrated his birthday on Thursday, didn't miss in any of his seven attempts from the floor, three of which were from downtown.  Westberg was 6-10 in 16 minutes to tack on 15 points to the Eagles' total.

Roeder was 7-14 from the field to help his 28 points in the game, which were followed by Andrew Berndt's 8-11 performance for 19 points.

Following the loss, Northwestern heads into a long week's worth of Christmas break with a 4-5 record before coming back to campus to pick up the missing pieces and prepare for a tournament at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Dec. 29-30.  The Eagles will face Cornell College on the 29th before facing either Eau Claire or Monmouth the following day.