NEW ULM, Minn. – The Northwestern men's basketball team continues to roll, with a convincing 84-56 over Martin Luther College on Saturday afternoon keeping the Eagles undefeated in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play. UNW has won 10 straight games and owns a two-game lead over its closest competitor in the league standings with four regular season contests to go.

While the first 12 minutes of Saturday's game was a back-and-forth battle between the Knights and Eagles, Northwestern took control in swift fashion with an 11-0 run midway through the first half. Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) drilled a three-pointer that spurred UNW to a 25-17 lead, and Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School)'s long range make five minutes later gave Northwestern its first double-digit advantage. The Eagles kept pace, and after leading by as much as 13, went into the locker room with an 11-point margin in their favor.

Shots continued to go down for Northwestern in the second half, which saw the Eagles make six of their 11 three-point attempts in the final 20 minutes. The lead reached 29 points on Blake Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian)'s downtown bucket at the 5:25 mark of the half, shortly before head coach Tim Grosz took his starting lineup off the court for good in what finished as a 28-point victory for the golden-clad UNW squad.

While it was a decent shooting night for UNW, the Eagles excelled in the assist-to-turnover ratio, compiling 20 assists compared to just seven recorded mistakes. Northwestern made 31 of its 69 attempts (44.9 percent) while going 10 of 20 from outside the three-point arc. On the other end, Martin Luther was held to 36.4 percent shooting, including an 8-29 mark in the second half.

Of the 14 Northwestern players to log minutes, three of them scored in double figures. Caleb Janson (Pierz, Minnesota/Pierz Healy)'s 23 points was easily a career-high for the junior, whose previous personal best was a 16-point performance on December 20. Janson added 12 rebounds for a double-double against Martin Luther. Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) finished 7-11 overall and 5-7 from downtown to add 19 points to the Eagles' line.

Todd Brassow was the Knights' lone scorer in double figures with 14 points.

Now 12-9 overall, Northwestern gets to finish the regular season at home having completed all of its UMAC road trips. The Eagles will host their final four games over the course of the next two weekends, with Northland College and the College of St. Scholastica coming to the Ericksen Center next Friday and Saturday, February 13 and 14 for 7:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. tipoffs.