DULUTH, Minn— The University of Northwestern claimed the 83-62 victory over the College of St. Scholastica in this week's Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Game of the Week. The Eagles had a comfortable lead over the Saints all 40 minutes of play due to the consistent capitalizing of shots.

Northwestern held the lead for all 20 minutes of the first half, but it wasn't until the 10 minutes into the game that UNW really started heating up. Thomas Shephard (Crystal, N.D./Valley-Edinburg) grew the four point lead to seven with a shot downtown putting the score at 19-12 ten minutes into the game. Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle) followed with three consecutive baskets adding six points to the board. CSS took their largest hit of the first half with an 18 point deficit behind Northwestern with five minutes left in the period, thanks to Matt Watnemo (Moorhead, Minnesota/Moorhead High School)'s shot in the paint. Scholastica's Marc Peterson responded with a three-pointer putting the score at 31-16 at the 4:48 mark. The home team slowly added points, narrowing Northwestern's lead to 12 points going 38-26 into halftime.

Fortunately for the Eagles, Scholastica's locker room talk didn't change much of the momentum as the Eagles continued to execute their shots. Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) stole the show with nine points in the next three minutes of play as UNW hit a 20 point advantage over CSS with a score of 52-32. The Blue and Gold's Joe Stark responded with a three pointer hoping to ignite a fire in the Saints, but the away team refused to let them back in the game. Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) had a series of five points bringing the Purple and Gold to a 59-40 lead with 12 minutes left. Carney's shot from downtown put the Eagles up 22 points with 9:37 on the board, but Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle)'s trey advanced their lead to 24 with eight minutes remaining. A fouled shot behind the arc allowed for Morrell to add three good free throws with just over three minutes on the clock, followed by a shot from downtown putting the score at 81-57. Blake Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian) added a cherry on top with a final lay-up of the game as the Eagles secured the 83-62 victory on the road.

Executing their shots, the Eagles made 54.8 percent of their field goals, while making 41.2 behind the arc. The Saints finished the night with 42 percent of field goals made compared to their 46.2 percent of threes.The Eagles rebounded 34 for the night, with an impressive 11 capitalized from Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School) alone. Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) was feeling the heat with 23 points for the sophomore guard, his eighth double digit game of the season. Other notables included Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle) (13) and Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) (13).

On the home team's side, Joe Stark led with 12 points, followed by Jake Naslund (11). No player passed the five rebound mark for the Saints, as they ended with 9 rebounds short of the Eagles.

With two conference wins under their belt, the Eagles (4-9 overall) will travel to Ashland, Wisconsin tomorrow for a 5:30 p.m. game against Northland College to wrap up their first conference road trip of the season.