ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern men's basketball team welcomed Crown College to the Ericksen Center for Wednesday night UMAC semifinal action. The match-up, which featured the No. 1 seeded Eagles and fourth-seeded Storm, brought in a packed crowd and fast-paced action. The Eagles put together a 62-point first half and 46 bench points to cruise to a 106-85 final victory.
 
Offensive rebounds and second chance points propelled the Eagles to a strong start. Noah Alm (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) and Johnny Erickson (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) came off the bench with fire. Alm knocked down a quick three that was followed by a steal and dish from Erickson to Michael Moore (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg). Erickson then drained back-to-back buckets to give the Eagles a 21-14 lead.
 
Brady Peterson (Princeton, Minn./Homeschool) kept the momentum flowing, coming in to knock down a huge three and advance the lead to 10.
 
On top of quick passing and strong shooting, Northwestern pulled down nine offensive boards, shot 56% from the field and drained 10 shots from beyond the arc to lead 62-41 at the half.
 
Rookie point guard, Michael Moore (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg), who put together a dynamic first half scoring 13 points on five of six shooting – continued to pick apart the Storm defense. Moore added 10 more points in the first seven minutes of the second half to increase the Northwestern lead to a game-best 28 (13:52 mark).
 
Moore finished with 27 points on the night after shooting 11 of 15 from the field and four of six from beyond the arc.
 
Brady Peterson (Princeton, Minn./Homeschool) added 19 points on six of 10 shooting, while Tanner Youngberg (Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area) finished with 14 and Noah Alm (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) and Johnny Erickson (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) each recorded 13. Alm dished out a team-best four assists. Caleb Hageman (Charles City, Iowa/Charles City) pulled down nine rebounds (including four offensive) as Northwestern won the rebounding battle, 37-29.
 
The Eagles collectively pulled down 15 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over just eight times.  
 
Northwestern advances to the UMAC Championship game with a 20-6 overall record and will host St. Scholastica on Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Ericksen Center. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. With a UMAC Championship win, the Eagles would earn their eighth trip to the NCAA postseason in the last nine years.
 
All UMAC Tournament information can be found at the Championship site, HERE.
 
Ticket Information
All UMAC postseason events have the following set admissions prices: Adults, $10; college students and seniors, $5; youth (Age 6-18), $5; age 5 and under, FREE. Any UMAC students, faculty and staff are free with a valid and current institutional ID. No other passes will be accepted.