Box Score
ST. PAUL – The University of Northwestern couldn't miss – or so it seemed – on Saturday night in a 92-52 victory over Martin Luther College. The Eagles made 13 of 19 first half three-point attempts en route to shooting 59 percent from downtown for the game and 57 percent overall from the floor.
The Eagles caught fire almost immediately after tipoff as
Steven Willey (Fort Calhoun, Neb./Fort Calhoun) and
Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) combined to hit five straight threes in the first four and a half minutes of play to give UNW a preliminary 17-4 lead. Just over three minutes later, at the 12:38 mark,
Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) got in on the action as his make from behind the three-point arc pushed the Northwestern advantage to 22 points at 28-6. With 6:16 remaining in the period, the Eagles, wearing their purple jerseys with gold trim, had gone 12-16 from long range as
Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian),
Thomas Shephard (Crystal, N.D./Valley-Edinburg) and
Blake Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian) all nailed buckets to push the steadily increasing buffer to 43-11 with 5:37 still yet to go in a superb half that ended with the Eagles leading by 36.
With more than the typical 10-deep rotation already logging minutes before halftime, Northwestern's lead maxed out at 42 points in the second period. While the Eagles were having little difficulty scoring, Martin Luther was just trying to keep pace with UNW after playing in a 108-102 double overtime loss to North Central less than 24 hours prior. Everyone wearing an Eagles uniform saw the court.
Northwestern's 16 three-point field goals made on the night was a season high as was the long distance success rate. Five different Eagles hit double figures, with Willey's 21 points on 8-10 shooting leading the way. Gisler, the reigning UMAC Player of the Week, finished with 13 points, making four of his five attempts.
Luke Rothe led Martin Luther (5-18, 4-8 UMAC) with 19 points.
Still leading the UMAC standings by one game, Northwestern heads into the final week of the regular season next week with two games remaining. The Eagles will get a chance at revenge against Northland College, one of two conference teams to beat UNW this season, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. before the College of St. Scholastica comes to the Ericksen Center for a Saturday matinee at 5 p.m.
