ST. PAUL, Minn. – With some offensive reinforcements back in the rotation Friday night, the University of Northwestern Men's Basketball team welcomed Maranatha Baptist University to the Ericksen Center for a non-conference bout; and a bout it was, as both teams played physical and tested the limits of the Ericksen Center scoreboard. Playing with
Noah Frazell (Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock) for the first time this season and
Mateo Cortes Weiss (Monterrey, N.L., Mexico/Minnehaha Academy) for the second, UNW was able to overcome missing
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) and
Will Foster (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie), surviving a late scare by the Sabercats to come away with a 93-82 win.
Frazell made his presence known right away, scoring the first points of the game, but Maranatha jumped out to an 8-4 lead. An
Isaac Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) three-pointer trimmed the deficit to one, but the Sabercats were able to push it back to four before a pair of
Blake Dalluge (Rogers, Minn./Rogers) threes tied the game at 16. Frazell scored nine of the Eagles' next 13 points, with
Jonah Burnett (Orr, Minn./North Woods) scoring the other four, as Northwestern took a 29-22 advantage. Three
Jacob Hoefs (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) layups and a jumper from
Mateo Cortes Weiss (Monterrey, N.L., Mexico/Minnehaha Academy) made it a nine-point lead with 3:41 left in the half, then Frazell pushed it to double digits with a trey. Hoefs scored UNW's final five points of the period to give the hosts a 49-37 lead at the break.
Despite back-to-back layups from Burnett early in the second half, MBU appeared ready to turn up the heat in the final 20 minutes. The visitors trimmed their deficit to six points just five minutes in, and got it to three just after the 14-minute mark. Cortes Weiss and Frazell were briefly able to stop the bleeding, but the Eagles' lead shrunk to one point with 10:20 left to play. Maranatha Baptist was able to tie the game at 66 just over a minute later, but ultimately never took the lead in the second half, as Hoefs and Cortes Weiss were able to fend it off. Another Frazell triple gave Northwestern some breathing room at 78-72 with 5:48 remaining, and consecutive
AJ Greene (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) jumpers, plus a free throw, pushed the lead back to nine. A corner three from Frazell with 1:17 to play was the dagger UNW so desperately needed, and the sophomore sunk four free throws to close out the 93-82 victory.
It was quite the season debut for Frazell, as the sophomore scored a career-high 29 points, snagged five rebounds and blocked three shots. Hoefs was sensational as well, posting career-bests in points (21) and rebounds (11) on 8-11 shooting, to achieve his first-career double-double. Another sophomore, Cortes Weiss, also had his best showing to date, returning from injury to log 14 points and seven rebounds. Greene's clutch shots gave him eight points for the night to go along with six assists and five rebounds. Burnett also scored eight points, while Dalluge finished with seven and three steals.
The Eagles will travel to UW-Eau Claire on Wednesday, December 10
th for a 7:00 PM tilt against the Blugolds.
