MINNEAPOLIS – With little margin for error sitting in fifth place in the UMAC standings with three games to play, the University of Northwestern Men's Basketball team was in desperate need of a win on Saturday afternoon. Despite defeating North Central University in early January, Saturday's rematch was far from a gimme for Northwestern, as the Rams had since risen to the top of the conference standings. The visiting Eagles were undeterred; however, taking control early in the first half and never giving up the lead in a 92-87 win to keep themselves firmly in the postseason hunt.
North Central took an early 4-2 lead after
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) his first of 30 points, but
Kelton Vincent's (Volga, S.D./Sioux Valley) three-pointer put UNW ahead 5-4, and Northwestern would go on to lead for the final 37:14 of the game. Eight more Nyamari points and a
Soren Anderson (Perham, Minn./Perham) layup capped off a 13-2 surge that put the Eagles in front, 15-6, and provided the cushion UNW would maintain throughout most of the afternoon. The lead grew to double digits thanks to an Anderson tip-in, a Nyamari three and a four-point play from freshman
Noah Frazell (Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock). NCU was able to pull within six despite a
Lewis Wolbert (Milaca, Minn./Milaca) layup and a
Caden Stevens (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) dunk, and even got within four with 7:26 left in the first half.
That was apparently the wake-up call that the Northwestern offense needed, as Nyamari and Anderson teamed up for an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 39-27. The Eagles' advantage stayed between 9-12 points as Anderson, Nyamari and Wolbert continued to pace UNW's offense. With 1:44 on the clock, North Central was able to trim its deficit to seven, but Northwestern scored on its final three possessions of the half—twice via Wolbert and once via
AJ Greene (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy)—to take a 51-40 lead into the break. Through 20 minutes,
Tim Grosz's squad was shooting 52.8% from the field and 62.5% from deep, with Nyamari already sitting at 18 points.
The 9-12-point margin remained the case for almost the entirety of the second half as well. Anderson scored UNW's first field goal of the half on a tough layup, then
Elijah Burns (Grand Prairie, Texas/Roseville Area) got on the board with a layup, four minutes in. Eight of Northwestern's next 10 points came from Nyamari, and the Rams had no answer for him defensively as the Eagles pushed their lead to 67-54. The next two UNW buckets came on impressively tough fade-away shots by Greene before Northwestern hit a bit of a dry spell on the offensive end. Anderson broke them out of the slump after nearly three minutes with a layup, then a pair of Frazell layups made it 77-67 with 5:44 to go.
Vincent's second field goal of the day came at a crucial time and was the result of a Wolbert steal as NCU was threatening to make a comeback, extending the lead to 12 with just over five minutes left. As the Rams' pressure tightened, Wolbert made another play that looked more like a seasoned vet than a freshman, making a floater while being fouled. He sunk the free throw as well to give Northwestern an 82-70 edge with 3:16 remaining. The hosts refused to roll over however, turning in an 8-0 run to suddenly make it a four-point game with 2:03 to go. Wolbert once again steadied the ship, corralling an errant pass and darting through the middle of the North Central defense to make a layup and put the score at 84-78. On the Eagles' next trip, Greene rebounded his own miss and put it back in with 50 seconds left to keep the advantage at six, then Wolbert, Frazell and Nyamari each went a perfect 2-2 at the free throw line to close out the 92-87 win. The win improved UNW's record to 12-11 overall and 7-5 in the UMAC, keeping the Eagles firmly in the conference playoff picture with two games left to play. North Central (14-9, 8-4 UMAC) fell out of a tie for first place with the loss and is now tied with two other teams for second place, one game ahead of the Eagles.
Nyamari found his shooting stroke in Minneapolis, exploding for 30 points while making four of his five three-point attempts. Wolbert was a perfect 6-6 off the bench en route to 17 points and six assists, while Anderson notched his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Greene and Frazell each scored 10 points while pulling down eight and six rebounds, respectively. Northwestern out-shot NCU 46.2%-28.6% from three and 87%-59.1% from the charity stripe.
UNW will look to build off of Saturday's big win with a home date with Northland on Wednesday, February 19
th at 5:30 PM.
