Box Score

MORRIS, Minn. – The Northwestern College men's basketball team returned to its winning ways on Friday night as the Eagles picked up a big road victory over the University of Minnesota Morris. Trailing by six points in the second half, NWC progressively turned on the heat to lead by as much as 18 before settling for an 81-72 win.

The Cougars came out hot on their home court, scoring the game's first seven points in less than two minutes' time before leading 12-3 after an early turnover by the Eagles.  Lance Westberg (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) drained his second three-pointer of the game to start a Northwestern spree that cut the Morris edge to one on a Wade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) jump shot. Just four minutes later, Morris had boosted its lead back to nine at 23-14 before Brendon Foss's trey gave UMM a 10-point buffer with 4:45 left to play in the half. NWC went back to work as the Cougars' margin dwindled down to two prior to a Ben Holdal three-pointer that sent Morris into the locker room with a 40-35 upper hand.

The five-point UMM lead still stood five minutes into the second period, but that was about to change when 12 straight Northwestern points shifted the momentum – and score – in the Eagles' favor. The deep ball continued to fall for Westberg and Chitwood and suddenly NWC found itself up 72-57 with six minutes remaining in the game. That lead expanded to 18 before a few late-game three-pointers went in for the Cougars to account for the 81-72 final score.

Northwestern's 55.6 percent (30-54) shooting performance was a season-best for the Eagles, who also made 52 percent (13-25) of their shots from downtown – another high for the current year's campaign. Morris practically matched NWC's efforts at 49.1 and 52.6 percents, but it was the Purple and Gold's two more rebounds and two less turnovers that ultimately made the difference.

Westberg's 10-17 effort from the floor was good for 24 points, three points shy of the senior's 27-point career high that came against North Central University last week. Chitwood added 17 points as Ellis Libby (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) dished out six assists. Northwestern received 28 points from its bench, including 13 from Matt Watnemo (Moorhead, Minnesota/Moorhead High School) and eight from Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian), who came out of his slump with a 3-6 night.

Steve Birman's five points in the final two minutes of the game helped the Morris senior lead his team with 15 points for the game. Evan Reller added 13 points on 6-8 shooting for the Cougars (5-8 overall, 2-2 UMAC).

After four league games for each UMAC team, the standings are anything but clear as the 10-5 Eagles are one of four teams with a 3-1 conference record. Northwestern will vie for its fourth UMAC win of the season tomorrow afternoon when it makes the rather short drive across the Twin Cities to face Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minn. in a 5 p.m. contest.