Box Score

NEW ULM, Minn. – The University of Northwestern men's basketball team used a second half comeback to win its second consecutive Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) game, defeating Martin Luther College 58-54. The Eagles, who faced a 13 point deficit midway through the first period, turned on the heat as the minutes continued to tick off the clock, leading by as much as 10 before departing the Knights' home court with a four point victory.

While Northwestern's shot attempts were off the mark early on, it seemed like nearly everything Martin Luther put up found the bottom of the net. The Knights broke a 6-6 tie with a 13-0 run that had the home team leading by a favorable margin (19-6) at the 9:23 mark of the initial period. Four different Knights made baskets during the spree, but the home team cooled off a bit as UNW continued to push. A quick 7-0 run from the Eagles' Blake Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian) and Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) cut the buffer to four before Eric Witthus (Chanhassen, Minn./Chanhassen) and Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) hit consecutive three-point baskets to tie the game at 25-25. Northwestern didn't score in the final 2:25, allowing MLC to go into the break with a five point advantage.

Wearing their purple uniforms, the Eagles held Martin Luther scoreless for the first 5:24 of the second half while receiving basket a big three-pointer from Steven Willey (Fort Calhoun, Neb./Fort Calhoun) to go with several makes at the free throw line to give UNW its first lead of the game. The margin continued to grow in Northwestern's favor as Thomas Shephard (Crystal, N.D./Valley-Edinburg) and Caleb Janson (Pierz, Minnesota/Pierz Healy) got in on the action with baskets, pushing the Eagles' to a 10-point lead as the clock slipped under eight minutes. The Knights put on a late surge to cut the UNW advantage to three as Ben Edmundson hit a bucket from downtown at the 1:57 mark, but that's all the closer Martin Luther would get as the Eagles hung on to a four-point win.

Both teams hovered around the 40 percent mark in terms of overall shooting with Northwestern and Martin Luther combining for just seven three-point makes on 30 attempts. Eagles head coach Tim Grosz will certainly want to shore up his team's assist-to-turnover ratio before Saturday's game against Bethany Lutheran College after UNW dished out eight assists compared to 15 mistakes on Friday n ight.

While MLC's Galen Holzhueter scored a game-high 26 points, Gisler was the lone Northwestern player to record double digits with his 14-point, 12-rebound performance to account for a double-double – the freshman's second of the 2013-2014 season. Willey was good for six assists on the night, while Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School) pulled down eight rebounds off the glass.

The Eagles will look to continue their early UMAC win streak tomorrow as UNW squares off against the Vikings of Bethany Lutheran in Mankato, Minn. Bethany defeated North Central University 91-77 on Friday. Tipoff for Northwestern's bout against the Vikings is scheduled for 3 p.m.