ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – After a string of five consecutive losses, the University of Northwestern men's basketball team has won six straight and seven of its last eight ball games following a 67-54 victory over Crown College on Friday night. The win keeps the Eagles unbeaten in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play, and Saturday's 5 p.m. tipoff at Minnesota Morris will not only give UNW the opportunity to grab the outright lead in the league standings, but also the chance to even its season record at 9-9.

Rebounding and scoring points off of Crown turnovers were strongly in the Eagles' favor as Northwestern capitalized with 11 points off of six Storm mistakes in the first half while UNW out-boarded its opponent 44-33 throughout the entire 40-minute contest. The Eagles scored the game's first seven points and never looked back, leading by 14 with just over five minutes remaining in the first half despite a pair of runs by the Storm that brought the host team within one. A pair of three-point makes by Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) and Blake Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian) helped UNW turn a 15-14 edge into a 28-14 gap, the same difference in points that separated the two teams at the halftime break.

Northwestern continued its steady shooting pace in the second half and though the Eagles weren't on fire by any means, a nearly-44 percent mark for the game was enough to keep UNW on top until the end. Northwestern's margin reached 20 points at four different times throughout the second half. Garrett Bigej made a bucket in the paint that cut the Eagles' edge to single digits at one point down the stretch before the final difference finished at 13.

Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) logged 35 minutes in a double-double performance with the sophomore scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to pace Northwestern, adding four assists along the way. Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) and Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School) also both saw over 30 minutes of court time; Carney led the team with 17 points, while Ooms' 12 boards were a game high for both squads.

James Brown scored 19 points for Crown, but 12 of those came at the free throw line, where the sophomore had 14 attempts. Northwestern's defense held Brown, who is among the UMAC's top five scorers, to just 3-12 shooting.