ST. PAUL, Minn. – University of Northwestern Men's Basketball hosted Crown College on Friday evening in the Ericksen Center for the first game of the conference schedule for both teams. The last time these two teams met was in last season's UMAC Tournament Championship game, which UNW won. In Friday's game, the Polars led at the half, but the Eagles stormed back in the second to take the conference opener 79-71 over Crown.
 
The Polars went up by seven points early in the first half, leading 16-9. Northwestern battled back to take the lead, going up by three leading 21-18. Crown went on to retake the lead and stayed ahead for the duration of the opening half, leading 37-34 at halftime.
 
Crown outshot UNW in the first half 43.3 percent to 38.7 percent from the field. The Eagles made 4-of-9 from three-point range while the Polars went 4-for-10.
 
In the second half, Crown pushed their lead up to seven points early, leading 43-36. At that juncture, UNW started to rally. The Eagles tied the game up 46-46 and then took the lead on a Henry Fahnbulleh (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) jumper. The Polars tied the game at 50-50, but Northwestern retook the lead and went up by six points, leading 60-54. Crown would later make a three-pointer to cut the Eagles' 62-56 lead down to three points, but UNW battled back to go up by as many as nine points multiple times in the closing minutes. The Eagles would close out the game with a 79-71 conference victory.
 
Northwestern's shooting from the field jumped up over five percent going from the first half to the second, shooting 43.8 percent from the field and making 4-of-10 three-pointers. Crown, meanwhile, dropped over nine percent to 34.21 percent shooting from the field in the second half, making just 4-of-16 from beyond the arc.
 
Kyle Kaemingk (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) led the way for Northwestern with 18 points. Fahnbulleh had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Caleb Hoilien (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) shot 6-for-8 from the field, scoring 13 points and added seven rebounds.
 
Up next, Northwestern will face the University of Minnesota Morris Cougars on Saturday, December 10, at 3:00 P.M. in the Ericksen Center.