ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Men's Basketball team made the short trek next door to take on the Bethel University Royals in the schools' annual non-conference rivalry game. The Eagles came in with a 2-0 record while the game served as the season opener for the Royals. Northwestern led for the entire 40 minutes in a convincing 70-60 win.
After struggling offensively in the first two games,
Micah Pocernich (Cromwell, Minn./Cromwell-Wright) began Tuesday night's game determined to score inside. He scored four of the team's first seven points in the paint, while Hoilien added the three-pointer.
Henry Fahnbulleh (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) hit
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) in the corner for a triple of his own to extend UNW's lead to 10-3 in the early goings. Hoilien scored four straight in the paint himself to cap off a 9-0 UNW run, which was shortly followed by a
Jeremiah Lavelle (Otsego, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) three-pointer to put the Eagles on top, 21-7.
A 5-0 Bethel run was countered by Hoilien, who went on a 4-0 run himself. With 3:26 left in the half, the senior made a layup through contact to stretch the lead back to 14, then later grabbed an offensive rebound and found Fahnbulleh for a bucket to put UNW ahead, 33-21. On the next possession, Fahnbulleh tracked down one of his seven offensive rebounds, which led to a Nyamari three. The Eagles led 36-26 at halftime.
Parker Behne (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) opened up the second half with a pull-up jumper and the Eagles were off and running once again. Fahnbulleh went to work on the offensive end in the second half, scoring six in a row down low for UNW to put the Eagles ahead, 44-32. The Royals gained a little momentum after that, but Nyamari knocked down a timely step-back three to push the lead back to double-digits. Bethel once again started to threaten a comeback a few minutes later, but Lavelle nailed a three and hit a contested pull-up jumper to stifle the momentum. With an 11-point lead, Pocernich euro-stepped into the lane and shoveled a pass to Fahnbulleh, who slammed it home for the exclamation point on a terrific night for
Tim Grosz's squad.
The Royals cut the lead to eight with five minutes left, but the Eagles once again relied on their offensive rebounding to give them the edge. Lavelle and Fahnbulleh both gave the Eagles an additional chance on the same possession, which resulted in a Fahnbulleh bucket to ease the minds of UNW Nation with the clock ticking down. Lavelle went 4-4 from the charity stripe in the final minute to seal the 70-60 win for Northwestern.
Fahnbulleh was dominant in every aspect, scoring 16 points, grabbing 14 rebounds (seven offensive), leading the team in assists with three and blocks with two. Hoilien used a hot first half to finish with 15 points on 63% shooting, while Lavelle had an efficient night off the bench, tallying 12 points and five rebounds while shooting 3-4 from the field, 2-2 from three and 4-4 from the line. Nyamari knocked down three treys for his nine points, while Pocernich added eight and Behne ripped down five rebounds. Also of note, the Eagles only turned the ball over three times in a tough road environment.
Northwestern will play two games this weekend as part of the Buzz Levick Tournament, hosted by Wartburg College. Game number one for UNW will take place Friday night at 8:00 PM in Waverly, Iowa against the hosts. They will conclude the tournament with a matchup with Cornell College, Saturday at 2:00 PM.
