ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Men's Basketball team nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages at Crown College on Saturday afternoon. Trailing by 17 with seven minutes to play, Northwestern battled back, one basket and one stop at a time, to tie the game with under a minute left. In the end, a last-second shot from a familiar face gave Crown an exhilarating, 94-91 win, despite a career day from UNW junior guard
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka).
Crown was in control from the opening tip, scoring the game's first six points before Nyamari got the Eagles on the board with a pull-up jump shot. The Anoka product made a three-pointer moments later to keep UNW within four points, then an
AJ Greene (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) jumper after pulling down an offensive rebound got his team within three at 11-8.
Caden Stevens (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) entered the game and converted a tough shot in the paint, then fellow forward
Elijah Burns (Grand Prairie, Texas/Roseville Area) scored off an offensive rebound to keep Northwestern close at 15-12. The Polars gave themselves a bit more breathing room before the Eagles fired back with a four-point possession. Nyamari made a tough jumper through contact, but missed the free throw. UNW got the board,
Lewis Wolbert (Milaca, Minn./Milaca) missed a shot, but got his own rebound and converted the put-back to trim the deficit to three once more.
An
Elijah Burns (Grand Prairie, Texas/Roseville Area) layup and a Nyamari three on consecutive possessions, both assisted by Wolbert, brought Northwestern within two at 24-22, but they could never quite get enough stops to take the lead in the first half. Nyamari scored 10 straight UNW points, but the Eagles still trailed, 31-29. Crown then went on a 10-0 surge toward the end of the half that would put them firmly in control for much of the remainder of the game. Wolbert scored five more points in the half, including an and-one, while Nyamari and
Noah Frazell (Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock) each added two, but the Polars led 47-38 at the intermission.
Soren Anderson (Perham, Minn./Perham) got on the board with Northwestern's first field goal of the second half, making it 52-41, Crown. A Nyamari pull-up kept the deficit at 11, but the Eagles continued to struggle getting stops. Burns scored seven straight UNW points, but Northwestern still trailed by 12. Wolbert began to heat up as the second half continued, scoring nine straight Eagle points to get them back within 11 at 72-61. Nyamari hit another trey to shrink the gap to 10, but the Polars were able to go up 14 before a Burns offensive board and subsequent put-back made it 81-69. Crown found their footing again to take their largest lead of the game, 88-71, with 6:43 remaining.
Things looked dire for UNW, but
Tim Grosz was able to get his team to dig deep and battle back. They chipped away, one score and one stop at a time. First it was a jumper by Greene; then it was a layup by Nyamari followed by a pull-up jumper from
Kelton Vincent (Volga, S.D./Sioux Valley). Soon, Frazell and Burns contributed layups, then Frazell made a pair of free throws as well. A Nyamari layup and a Greene jumper completed an astonishing, 16-0 run that brought the Eagles within a point at 88-87 with 1:22 left to play. The Polars stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer with 57 seconds left, but Nyamari was fouled while shooting a three on the other end. The junior calmly made all three to bring his point total for the game to 33, and more importantly, shrink the deficit to one once again. Northwestern was able to get a stop on the other end and Wolbert was fouled trying to dribble out of traffic after snaring the rebound. He made one of his two free throws, meaning Crown could hold the ball for the final shot. Former Eagle
Parker Behne (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) took said shot, a corner three, and swished it with 0.8 seconds on the clock. Greene was able to muster up a heave through contact at the buzzer, but to no avail, as the Polars escaped with a 94-91 win on their home floor.
As mentioned previously, Nyamari's career-high 33 points and two steals paced UNW. Wolbert set a new career best himself, finishing with 21 points, six rebounds and four assists. Burns logged 15 points and nine rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end. Anderson pulled down five rebounds, while Greene and Vincent each snagged four. The fact that the Eagles were in the game at the end was even more surprising when you look at the shooting splits. The Eagles were out-shot from the field (50.7%-44.6%), from three (53.6%-24%) and from the free throw line (84.6%-67.9%). They were, however, able to win in points off turnovers (10-5) and second-chance points (30-9).
Northwestern will take to the road once again Wednesday, January 29
th for a date with Northland College. Tip-off in Ashland is scheduled for 5:30 PM.
