DE PERE, Wis. – The University of Northwestern most-likely won the biggest game of the program's 41-year history on Friday night, knocking off No. 3 (D3Hoops.com) University of St. Thomas 71-70. With the Eagles trailing by two, Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School)'s three-pointer from the top of the key went straight through the net as time expired, marking the first time that UNW has beat a top-10 ranked team in the NCAA Division III. Next up is a 7 p.m. date with Elmhurst College on Saturday night.





Northwestern couldn't have come out of the gate any hotter than it did, as the Eagles nailed nine of their first 10 shots, owning an early 21-12 lead over the Tommies. Morrell was UNW's spark from the get-go, scoring the first five points including a three-pointer from the top of the key. Then it was Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville)'s turn with another three, boosting the Purple and Gold's buffer to eight. Caleb Janson (Pierz, Minnesota/Pierz Healy) joined the party, and with a smaller Marcus Alipate guarding him, the junior took advantage of the size difference with five buckets in the first 10:21.

Most of Northwestern's attempts were jump shots, while St. Thomas countered with a packed inside offensive game plan, something that worked well with the combination of 6-6 big men Conner Nord and Ryan Saarela on the floor. But Saarela was forced to guard the versatile Gisler, which also turned out to be a mismatch in the Eagles' favor. The Tommies did everything they could to not let UNW's leading scorer, Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian), even touch the ball, often times double teaming him on the perimeter. But when Carney did get his hands on it, the junior let it fly, making a pair of first half three-pointers.

The Eagles' hot shooting couldn't last forever, and UNW cooled off to a 12-18 rate as a timeout was called at the 6:16 point of the initial period with the lead dwindling from 27-19 to 27-25 over the course of a few minutes. Taylor Montero's downtowner at 4:38 gave the Tommies their first lead of the game at 28-27. Both teams were shooting 52 percent with UST up 30-29 with 3:11 to play; St. Thomas' size advantage was also showing up on the glass where the Tommies owned a 16-8 upper hand in rebounding with seven offensive boards.

Northwestern went into the locker room with a two-point edge, 34-32, taking advantage of Gisler's layup in the final minute. The Eagles continued that momentum with the first three baskets of the second period including a successful Gisler drive on Saarela under the hoop.

UNW was noticeably stepping up its defensive pressure in the paint, especially on Nord, but Alipate, the Toms' leading scorer on the season, started to heat up outside the three-point arc. The senior nailed back-to-back threes to pull UST within three at 42-39 as the Eagles went over seven minutes without a field goal. St. Thomas' Cortez Tillman hit a long trey to tie it at 44-44 and it was neck-and-neck from there on out. Basket for basket, Northwestern and the Tommies traded scores at 49, 51, 53, and 55. Nord found some room for consecutive lay-ins that gave UST a five-point edge at 62-57 to effectively put four different St. Thomas players in double figures for scoring.

Enter Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle), the scrappy sophomore and Northwestern's fastest player, for his impact minutes: Sprenger drove consecutive times to put the Eagles within a point before Morrell fed Matt Watemo for a lay-up to give UNW a slight 63-62 edge back as the clock ticked well under two minutes in regulation. The two teams weren't separated by more than one possession the rest of the way out, but Northwestern hit two big shots at the end to ultimately win the game.

Trailing by a bucket with the shot clock off, Northwestern was forced to foul Apilate, who made both attempts at the charity stripe to give his team a 68-65 lead with 20 seconds left. Sprenger raced down for a game-tying three on the other end, but Grant Schaeffer made what appeared to be a potentially game-winning lay-up for St. Thomas with six seconds left on the clock. In typical Northwestern fashion, the Eagles didn't take a time out, electing to go for it. Sprenger drove up and handed off to Morrell at the top of the key where the sophomore muscled a good look from three feet outside the arc that was nothing but net as time expired.

Northwestern went 28-62 overall, with none of those 28 makes bigger than Morrell's buzzer beater, but the Eagles played nearly flawless basketball throughout the 40-minute contest, committing just four turnovers compared to 14 assists. The Tommies countered with the same number of field goal completions as UNW, and out-rebounded the Eagles by seven as Apilate made it into double digits, joining his other four teammates.

Morrell's 18 points led all players, with Watnemo quietly producing 13 points on a 6-6 shooting performance.

Northwestern, now 19-9 overall, continues its winning streak which improves to 17 with the victory. St. Thomas' season ends at 24-5.

Both games in the St. Norbert four-team pod had dramatic finishes. Elmhurst survived the host-Green Knights with a triple-overtime thriller in the 7:30 p.m. game to earn the right to face the Eagles on Saturday night. The Blue Jays are currently 20-7 overall and were an at-large invite into the NCAA Tournament. A full preview of the Northwestern-Elmhurst game will be available on unweagles.com on Saturday morning.