Box Score
ST. PAUL – The University of Northwestern men's basketball team lost its first Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) contest of the 2013-2014 season on Friday night as the University of Minnesota Morris used a late-game comeback to win 59-56. The Eagles had a poor shooting performance on the wrong night as UNW went just 20-58 from the floor including a dismal 8-30 from behind the three-point line.
Going into Friday's game, the Eagles had won eight straight UMAC contests dating back to the 2012-2013 season.
Northwestern found itself down by a few points early on in the 5:30 p.m. game as Cody Emrick and Brendon Foss took advantage of early misses and a turnover by the Eagles with back-to-back baskets. The Purple and Gold responded with a 13-4 run with a
Blake Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian) three and a layup from
Matt Watnemo (Moorhead, Minnesota/Moorhead High School) put UNW ahead 13-8. The advantage reached as much as seven points as the clock slipped inside six minutes remaining in the half before the Cougars cut the mark to 32-28 at halftime.
The Eagles boosted their buffer back to eight points in the first four minutes of the second half as consecutive layups from
Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School) and a
Steven Willey (Fort Calhoun, Neb./Fort Calhoun) drive had UNW in charge. Things went status quo for the next several minutes until jumpers from John Haseman and Neil Helgeson quickly turned the Northwestern lead from six to one before an Even Reller layup put Morris back in front for the first time since the 16:23 mark of the first period. The Cougars spree was timely, as UNW couldn't buy a bucket. With Northwestern looking up at a 57-53 Morris lead, Willey hit a key three-pointer to put the Eagles within one, but that's as close as the home team would get. Willey got a good look from 30 feet at the buzzer, but the senior's desperation jumper fell short, as did UNW in the 59-56 final.
Willey's make from downtown with 1:37 remaining was Northwestern's only points in the final three minutes of the game despite six shot attempts, five of which were behind the arc.
Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville)'s 5-for-11 shooting night yielded a team-best 13 points, but not much seemed to go down for the Eagles. Ooms brought down 10 of the team's 36 rebounds in his first career start.
Dean and Foss each had 12 points for the Cougars, who improve to 9-6 overall and 3-1 in UMAC play.
Northwestern, now 6-9 in 2013-2014 with a matching 3-1 conference mark, returns to the gym on Saturday for another tall task. The Eagles' 3 p.m. opponent, Crown College, is the UMAC's only remaining unbeaten team (4-0) after a 96-76 victory over North Central University.
