ST. PAUL, Minn- Northwestern men's basketball team hosted the Bethany Lutheran Vikings for the UMAC Tournament Semifinal game Friday night in the Ericksen Center. The Eagles used their hot shooting to take down the Vikings 96-88 in a thrilling matchup. They will be advancing to the UMAC Tournament finals against Crown College on Sunday, February 27 at 2:00 p.m.
Bethany scored the very first bucket of the game before
Henry Fahnbulleh (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) responded with two consecutive layups. The Vikings would then break out onto a 16-6 run to take an 18-10 lead seven minutes into the game. Northwestern would close in with back-to-back threes before eventually finding themselves back ahead off a
Micah Pocernich (Cromwell, Minn./Cromwell-Wright) jumper with 10 minutes to go. The two teams would exchange the lead before three straight buckets for the Eagles gave the lead back to them for the rest of the half.
UNW was ahead by just three points in the final two minutes of the opening half, but then
Caleb Waldeck (Newhall, Calif./Hart High) activated. The senior sank two threes while
Kyle Kaemingk (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) found himself a jump shot to give Northwestern an 11 point lead, 52-41, at halftime.
The Eagles were firing on all cylinders in the first half, shooting 57.9 percent overall while hitting 41.2 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. UNW's bench helped give them the first half lead as they outscored BLC's bench 22-8.
Northwestern exploded in the first seven minutes of the second half as they built themselves a 20 point lead. However, starting at the 09:14 mark, the Vikings slowly but surely started to crawl back into the game. Before anyone knew it, the lead was cut down to six points with six and a half minutes left. UNW did what they could to extend their lead but BLC would not give in. With less than a minute left, Bethany knocked down four free throws to cut their deficit down to five. However, with ice in their veins, the Northwestern players sank every single free throw attempt they took as they closed the game out 96-88.
Overall, the Eagles finished shooting 54.5 percent from the field, 32.1 percent from the three, and 78.9 percent of their shots from the free throw line. It came down to a game of who can get the rebound, Northwestern won the rebound battle 41-38 including nine offensive boards that were crucial.
Leading the team in points was
Caleb Hoilien (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) who finished with 21 points, 17 of which came in the first half. Behind him was
Noah Alm (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) who scored 19 while Kaemingk and Waldeck each had 15. Leading the team in rebounds was
Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) who brought down 10 to go with his seven points.
Northwestern will be advancing to the UMAC Tournament Championship game on Sunday as they host the Crown College Storm. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. For all things UNW Men's Basketball, fans can follow along at www.unweagles.com or on Twitter and Instagram at @unwmbb.
