ST. PAUL, Minn. – University of Northwestern Men's Basketball hosted Northland College on Friday night for their first home game since January 14. UNW's three-point shooting carried them to an 87-73 win over the Lumberjacks, improving their conference record to 8-3 on the season and taking control of their destiny in the competition for the UMAC Championship.
 
Northwestern entered the game tied with Wisconsin-Superior in second place in the UMAC standings and two games behind first-place Bethany Lutheran. Both the Yellowjackets and Vikings fell on Friday night, making the Eagles win massive in terms of the conference title race. UNW now stands alone in second place and just one game behind BLC. The Eagles previously defeated the Vikings this season back on January 14, and will face them again next weekend, meaning that if the Eagles can win their final three games, they will secure the conference championship.
 
The Eagles earned this opportunity with their win over Northland on Friday evening, which was started off with the Lumberjacks taking an early lead. Northland went up by as many as seven points in the first half, leading 15-8 early. The Eagles then battled back and, after trading small leads back and forth, went up 22-21. UNW built that lead to 44-35 by the end of the half.
 
Northland started to rally early after halftime, cutting Northwestern's lead down to five points at 47-42. The Eagles proceeded to break away and built their lead, going up by as many as 24 points at 68-44 halfway through the second half. The Lumberjacks would cut that 24-point lead down 11 near the end of the game, but Caleb Hoilien (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) hit a three for the final basket of the game to put the Eagles back up by 14 for the 87-73 final.
 
Both the Eagles and Lumberjacks shot 49.2 percent from the field in the game, with each taking 59 shots and making 29. The efficiency from three-point range proved vital to the outcome, as Northwestern shot 50.0 percent (11-for-22) from beyond the arc while Northland shot 29.4 percent (5-for-17).
 
Kyle Kaemingk (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) led the Eagles with 28 points on 53.8 percent shooting, just missing a double-double with nine rebounds while adding a team-high five assists. Henry Fahnbulleh (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) followed with 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds to notch a double-double. Micah Pocernich (Cromwell, Minn./Cromwell-Wright) scored 14 points, going 4-for-4 from three-point range. Seth Fuqua (Colorado Springs, Colo./The Vanguard School) scored 10 points to surpass 1,000 points in his collegiate career.
 
Up next, Northwestern will host the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets for a critical conference contest at 3:00 P.M. on Saturday, February 11. UWS is just one game behind UNW in the conference standings and previously defeated the Eagles back on January 20, making the game a must-watch as the Eagles look to keep control of their own destiny for the UMAC title and the Yellowjackets look to overtake UNW for the two-seed in the conference standings.