STEVENS POINT, Wis. – What was a Cinderella run for the University of Northwestern in the NCAA Division III Tournament wrapped up on Friday night with a loss to East Texas Baptist University (ETBU), 70-46, in a Sweet 16 matchup. After winning its first two NCAA playoff games in school history, UNW met its match against the 25th-ranked (D3Hoops.com) Tigers, who, after a cold start, seemingly couldn't miss most of the night in the two teams' first meeting.

Contrary to last Friday and Saturday when the Eagles could hardly miss to start games, tonight was the opposite as the two teams went a combined 2-23 shooting in the opening eight minutes. Neither team scored in nearly the first four minutes, but things turned around quickly for East Texas Baptist after the 10-minute mark. What was a 4-4 tie turned into 10-4 in the Tigers' favor as UNW looked vulnerable under the hoop on defense while committing back-to-back turnovers on offense. That ETBU run continued with points from fast break and driving opportunities as the Tigers showed their speed. Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) briefly stopped the spree with a three-pointer, but East Texas Baptist's buffer was about to grow more. After a 3-19 start from the floor for UNW, Caleb Janson (Pierz, Minnesota/Pierz Healy) hit consecutive jumpers to cut the Tigers lead to 23-16. ETBU's response was Dylan Augustine, who went 4-5 overall in the first half and 2-3 from downtown in a nearly five-minute period to help the navy blue-clad team make nine out of 10 shots (and 10 of 12), pushing the Tigers margin wide to 36-19.

ETBU's three-point success rate continued as the American South Conference's champion upped its lead to 19 with 1:32 still to play in the period. Northwestern got a spark at the end of the half, with Matt Watnemo (Moorhead, Minnesota/Moorhead High School) using the glass for a mid-range jumper before Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) hit another buzzer-beater, this time from just outside the arc as time expired to cut the buffer to 39-25 at the break.

After starting 0-5 from behind the three-point arc, the downtown makes continued for East Texas Baptist as Justin Felicia  and Erby Thompson drained deep 3s to open the second half, putting the Tigers up 45-25 with more than 18 minutes still to go. That theme continued for ETBU, as did Northwestern's inability to get any production in the paint or rebounding against a starting five that featured a pair of 6-7 players in Felicia and Jamil Samuel. Felicia hit another three to bump the buffer to 23 at 50-27 as the Tigers started the half with an 18-4 run.

On the other end, the Eagles' leading scorer and Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Player of the Year Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) couldn't find any success, going 1-12 in his first 10 shots as East Texas Baptist's buffer continued to increase, now at 28 points. UNW had a couple late-game spurts, including a Matt Watnemo (Moorhead, Minnesota/Moorhead High School) three-pointer paired with Blake Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian)'s and-one three-point play that brought the Eagles with in 22 at 57-35 with 11:50 to go. Thomas Shephard (Crystal, N.D./Valley-Edinburg) hit a deep ball three minutes later to again cut the Tigers advantage to 22, but ETBU countered right back with baskets on the other end.

Northwestern head coach Tim Grosz had his four seniors – Van Maanen, Shephard, Watnemo and Daniel Petkau (Rib Lake, Wis./Rib Lake) – in the game, along with Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle), as the clock neared four minutes, knowing that tonight was the last time they would see the court. Watnemo was UNW's lone player to finish in double digits, scoring 11 points in a 5-7 effort. On the other side, East Texas Baptist had Samuel at 14 points along with Felicia at 11 and Augustine at 10 as the Tigers moved on to the Elite 8 with a 24-point victory.
Northwestern's 30 percent shooting rate (18-60) was the Eagles' lowest in 30 games this season, as was UNW's 46 points. After the slow start in the first half, East Texas Baptist made 27 of 53 overall attempts (50.9 percent) with a 7-16 performance from the outside.

The loss ended UNW's record-setting win streak at 18, a mark that will be difficult to match in a schedule that features 25 regular season games. Northwestern's 2014-2015 campaign finishes at 20-10 overall, marking the seventh year in Grosz's 15-year history at the team's helm that the Eagles have won 20 or more games.

For the 16 players on the bus the last two weekends, the year that was will be not only a story to tell for years to come, but also a foundation on which Grosz and his coaching staff continues to build the program upon.

Stay tuned to unweagles.com for more Northwestern men's basketball news at it becomes available.

NCAA Tournament Media Vault