ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Northwestern men's basketball team clinched the UMAC Regular Season Championship, their 16th in the past 21 years, on Friday night as the Eagles topped the Vikings of Bethany Lutheran 68-67 with a last second shot to win. UNW improved their record to 18-6 (12-1 UMAC) on the season with the win.
Bethany found the very first bucket of the game before
Noah Alm (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) responded with a three pointer to give Northwestern the lead. A barrage of three pointers for both teams would keep the contest close. The Eagles found their biggest lead of seven after
Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) hit a three of his own with a little less than nine minutes to go. However, the Vikings found themselves on a streak as they jumped out ahead by six with three and a half minutes to go. They held onto a four point lead before Boerema found a last second layup to cut the margin to two as UNW entered halftime trailing 38-36.
Northwestern shot 37.8 percent from the field and knocked down 7-14 of their attempted threes in the first half. Another big part of the first half was their shot blocking ability as they swatted away three shots.
UNW found themselves back in the lead early on in the second half as Alm drained a jumper to take a two point lead. However, BLC would jump back out ahead and would continue to dominate the scoreboard as they extended their lead to 14 points with 10:30 left to go.
As the second half continued, things started to look dire as Bethany held onto a lead while Northwestern could not earn themselves a basket. After a cold three minutes with neither team able to find a basket,
Henry Fahnbulleh (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) snapped the cold streak with a layup to put the game at a one possession score, 61-58, with 04:15 left on the clock. Some exchanged baskets in favor of the Vikings gave them a five point lead with less than two minutes to go, but being in the bonus gave the Eagles the chances they needed to bring themselves back into the game.
After four made free-throws in a row, the lead was down to one. The teams would exchange jump ball calls before UNW was forced to send BLC to the free-throw line for a one-and-one. The free throw would not be good, giving Northwestern a glimmer of hope as they drove down. Alm put up a shot that would hit the rim and the backboard before falling in and the Ericksen Center erupted. With seven second to go, Bethany attempted to drive it down but they lost the ball as time expired giving the Eagles the victory, 68-67.
Overall, UNW shot 38.5 percent, they also made 38.1 percent of their shots from beyond the arc, and drained 83.3 percent of their charity stripe attempts. The rebounding ability and defense for the Eagles helped them to earn this victory.
Alm finished with a team high 16 points while Fahnbulleh led the team in rebounds with 13 to go with his nine points. Tied for second in scoring was Boerema and
Micah Pocernich (Cromwell, Minn./Cromwell-Wright) as they both scored 13. Boerema had a double-double with 12 rebounds while Pocernich was shooting lights out from the three, 3-for-4, on the night. Another player with a big game was
Caleb Hoilien (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) who had 11 points and seven rebounds to his name.
Northwestern will be right back at it tomorrow as they host the final regular season game of the season. They will be hosting the Knights of Martin Luther College at 4:45 p.m. For all things UNW Men's Basketball, fans can follow along at www.unweagles.com or on Twitter and Instagram at @unwmbb.
