ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern men's basketball season opened the 2019-20 season by welcoming Milwaukee School of Engineering to the Ericksen Center for a Friday night tilt.
 
MSOE entered tonight's match-up after being picked to finish first in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC). The Raiders went 21-5 overall last season. Northwestern, the 2018-19 reigning Upper Midwest Athletic Conference champions, were picked second by league coaches.
 
Tonight's season opener gave the home crowd an exciting display as both teams battled amid three tied scores and lead changes in the opening 20 minutes. The Raiders came away with a six-point lead (38-32) heading into intermission after outrebounding Northwestern, 26-17 in first half play.
 
Well-balanced scoring featured seven Eagles all connecting on a bucket in the first half. Senior Tanner Youngberg (Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area) led the scoring efforts with seven points and seven boards in the half.
 
Northwestern was first to score after the break and pulled within two (42-40) just over three minutes into action. Johnny Erickson (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) led the second-half run, putting eight points on the board in a quick six minutes.
 
It wasn't long before junior guard, Noah Alm (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake), took over. The sharp-shooter first knocked down a three at the 14:19 mark, to give UNW a 45-44 lead. He was back at it, connecting on a fast break three from Kyle Kaemingk (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) to extend the Eagles' lead to four. A pair of pull-up jumpers followed by a deep transition three made it 13 straight points for Alm to give Northwestern a 57-49 advantage.
 
Michael Moore (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) fed off of the momentum, draining a fast-break three of his own to put Northwestern up by 11, forcing a Raider timeout.
 
The Raiders kept things interesting – pulling within five with under four minutes to play and cutting the UNW lead to three with 24 seconds on the clock. MSOE's Michael Pitrof drained a shot from beyond the arc with 3.7 seconds on the clock and drew the foul to give the Raiders a one-point advantage.
 
Down one with the ball, the Eagles couldn't get the last shot to go – falling in a season-opening heartbreaker, 76-75.
 
Noah Alm (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) led Northwestern with 21 points on the night, draining five of eight shots from beyond the arc. Three additional Eagles recorded double-digit point totals including Tanner Youngberg (Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area) with 13 and Michael Moore (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) and Johnny Erickson (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy), adding 12 apiece.
 
Youngberg had a team-best nine boards, while Michael Moore (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) dished out five assists.
 
The Raiders pulled down 17 offensive boards and scored 26 second-chance points to Northwestern's seven.
 
The Eagles will be back at it tomorrow when they welcome Wisconsin Lutheran to the Ericksen Center for a 3 p.m. tipoff. For all things Northwestern men's basketball, visit www.unweagles.com or follow the Eagles on social at @unwmbb on Instagram and Twitter.