ST. PAUL, Minn. – While the weather outside the Ericksen Center was frightful on Saturday, the action that took place inside the building was a delightful display of basketball. Neither the University of Northwestern nor Carleton College was able to lead by more than six points as the two squads traded leads throughout the afternoon. Ultimately, it was the visitors from Carleton that were able to emerge victorious by a 78-74 score.
The ping-pong game began immediately as
AJ Greene (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) got Northwestern on the board with a layup to even the score at two. Trailing 6-2 moments later, UNW scored on four consecutive possessions to take an 11-8 lead.
Elijah Burns (Grand Prairie, Texas/Roseville Area) converted a three-point play and scored in the post off an assist from
Caden Stevens (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista), Stevens scored down low himself and
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) buried a baseline jumper in the spurt. Stevens laid in an alley-oop from fellow freshman
Lewis Wolbert (Milaca, Minn./Milaca) to extend the lead to five, then
Soren Anderson (Perham, Minn./Perham) flushed a transition dunk off a feed from Nyamari. The next two Eagle possessions resulted in buckets from Stevens and
Noah Deedrick (Rochester, Minn./Century), putting Northwestern in front, 19-14.
Carleton went on a 10-2 run after that, which was ended by a
Kelton Vincent (Volga, S.D./Sioux Valley) three that tied the game at 24. Greene put UNW back in front with a fastbreak slash on the following possession, then Stevens did the same with a baseline jumper just over a minute later. Stevens scored again with 3:40 remaining in the first half after Greene grabbed an offensive rebound and found the big man, but the Eagles trailed, 31-30. A transition layup by Nyamari once again brought Northwestern within one at 33-32, but the Knights were able to hit a three before the end of the half to take a 36-32 lead into the locker room. Stevens's 10 points led UNW at the break.
Northwestern came out firing in the second half, beginning with a strong drive from Greene. A Nyamari three trimmed the deficit to one, then Stevens scored on the following possession to give UNW a 41-40 edge. Carleton was able to regain the lead, but Greene put the Eagles back in front with strong drives to the hole on back-to-back possessions. Northwestern would go on to score on the next three possessions as well, courtesy of two nifty moves by Wolbert and a Nyamari pull-up jumper. It was the most momentum the UNW offense had shown all day, giving it a 52-46 lead. Stevens and Wolbert continued to shine on the offensive end for Northwestern, including a two-handed dunk by Stevens in transition off a feed from Nyamari.
Burns, battling foul trouble, checked back in and scored to make it 63-58, Eagles. The next time down, Wolbert dropped in a floater after a beautiful back cut, which was quickly followed by a Greene step-back jumper to keep UNW in front, 67-63. The Knights would not go away, though, scoring five straight to steal the lead back. Anderson came through with just his second bucket of the game with 4:20 left, and it was a big one; the and-one from the sophomore forward gave his team a 70-68 advantage. Carleton responded to take the lead back, but Wolbert came through clutch once more, hitting a pull-up shot to even the score at 72 with 3:17 remaining. The Knights went up four with 1:12 left, but a tough Nyamari finish inside gave the Eagles some life with 15 seconds on the clock. Carleton made one of two free throws on the other end, leaving the door open for Northwestern to tie. A deep three-point attempt didn't fall, and the Knights escaped with a 78-74 win after one more free throw. They improved to 7-2 on the season, while the Eagles fell to 4-6.
Stevens came off the bench to lead UNW in scoring with 16 points on an impressive 8-12 performance from the field, in addition to a game-high three blocks. Nyamari finished with 15 points and three assists, while Greene tallied 13 and three, respectively. Wolbert scored 12 off the bench (6-9 FG) and led Northwestern in rebounds with seven. Anderson chipped in six rebounds and Burns five, while Vincent dished out three assists. Northwestern went just 3-13 from behind the arc, while Carleton made 7 of 21 attempts. The Eagles did win the rebounding battle (33-29) and shot better from the field (52.4%-48.4%).
After a three-game homestand, UNW will take to the road Tuesday night for a matchup with Augsburg. Tip-off in Minneapolis is slated for 7:00 PM, and will be the final game for the Eagles before the New Year.
