ST. PAUL, Minn. – After shooting just 23.1% from the three-point line less than 24 hours before Saturday's showdown with Northland College, the University of Northwestern Men's Basketball team had a clear area where improvement was needed if it wanted to pick up its first conference win of the 2023-24 campaign. The Eagles answered the bell to the tune of a 54.2% effort from deep in an 84-66 home win over the Lumberjacks.
Although the score might indicate an easy win for UNW, that was not the case.
Caleb Hoilien (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy), coming off a 20-point game Friday night against UW-Superior, scored Northwestern's first four points. A
Jeremiah LaVelle (Otsego, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) three-pointer, his first of five on the night, as the shot clock expired gave the Eagles a 7-4 lead. Micach Pocernich knocked down a triple of his own shortly thereafter to make it 10-9 in favor of the home team.
Elijah Burns (Grand Prairie, Texas/Roseville Area) and
Andrew Koehler (Scandia, Minn./Chisago Lakes), who both had tremendous showings coming off the bench Friday night, picked up right where they left off as both scored inside to trim Northland's lead to one at 15-14. Two possessions later, Burns grabbed an offensive rebound and laid the ball in to tie the game at 17.
Northwestern's bench continued its strong weekend on the next possession, as
Ryan Schneider (Longmont, Colo./Longmont) converted a layup set up by a beautiful pass from
Henry Fahnbulleh (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) to give Northwestern the lead. Pocernich, who had his best game of his senior season, dished out back-to-back assists to
Henry Fahnbulleh (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) and
Kelton Vincent (Volga, S.D./Sioux Valley) to put UNW up by three. Pocernich then found Behne open in the corner to give the Eagles a 31-27 advantage with 2:09 left in the half. Koehler buried his first three-pointer of the season with 20 seconds left to make it 34-30 Northwestern at the break. The big man finished the half with six rebounds and five points, while LaVelle had eight points and three boards.
Behne got things going in the second half, getting past the Northland defense for an open layup to extend the lead to six. The Lumberjacks began to heat up, making a barrage of threes, but UNW had an answer almost every time, highlighted by a LaVelle three to push Northwestern's lead back to four at 49-45. Burns checked back into the game with 14:53 left and as impressive as his first half run was, the second half stint was even better. The junior drove on and finished over Northland's big man to make the lead six, knocked down two free throws, hit a tough runner while fading to his left, and capped off the explosion by assisting a Pocernich three-pointer to extend UNW's lead to 58-50.
In the midst of the Burns takeover, Koehler continued to dominate on the glass, as the junior finished with a game-high 12 rebounds. However, the Lumberjacks remained at arm's length with eight minutes left. That's when LaVelle buried another three that caused the Ericksen Center to explode and made Northwestern's lead eight. Behne hit a pair of free throws to give the Eagles their first double digit lead of the game, then Pocernich knocked down another trey to extend the lead to 13. Pocernich then assisted a Behne three as the lead remained 13 at 71-58. The Pocernich heater continued, as the senior drilled his fourth and final three of the day to put the game out of reach at 76-60 with 4:46 left. Two more LaVelle threes put an exclamation point on a career day for the sophomore, and Hoilien hit one more jumper for good measure to give Northwestern an 84-66 victory. The win was the first in UMAC play for the Eagles and got them back above .500 overall for the season at 8-7.
As mentioned previously, it was a career-day for
Jeremiah LaVelle (Otsego, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy). The sophomore made eight of his 11 shots and five of his seven three-point attempts for 26 points. He also ripped down four rebounds. Pocernich's hot shooting earned him 14 points and he also dished out a career-high six assists. Behne was solid all-around with 10 points, five assists and three boards. Hoilien and Burns also turned in 10-point outings. Koehler led all rebounders with 12.
Northwestern will look to ride the momentum of Saturday's win next Friday (January 19
th) at Crown College. The Polars entered Saturday unbeaten in UMAC play before losing in the final seconds to first-place Bethany Lutheran. Tip-off at the Wild Athletic Center in St. Bonifacius is scheduled for 7:15 PM, after the conclusion of the women's game.
