ST. PAUL, Minn. – If you thought a
Tim Grosz basketball team was missing the UMAC Men's Basketball Tournament, you must not be from around here. Facing a "win-and-in" scenario at home against Crown College in the regular season finale for the second consecutive season, the University of Northwestern repeated what it achieved last year and took care of business on Senior Day. Overcoming a nine-point deficit, the Eagles rallied to defeat Crown, 83-73, to claim the No. 3 seed in next week's conference tournament. Northwestern has now qualified for the conference tournament in all 25 seasons that Grosz has been at the helm.
The highlight of the day came in the opening minutes, when birthday boy and senior,
Elijah Burns (Grand Prairie, Texas/Roseville Area), pump-faked, drove the lane and hammered a dunk over a Crown defender, throwing the crowd into a frenzy. Shortly thereafter, UNW took its first lead after back-to-back three-pointers by
AJ Greene (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) and
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) made it 10-8. Nyamari hit another one from deep a couple of possessions later, then Burns drilled a three of his own to extend the lead to 16-11. The Northwestern surge continued as a
Lewis Wolbert (Milaca, Minn./Milaca) floater and a
Soren Anderson (Perham, Minn./Perham) and-one made it an 11-0 run for the home team and gave the Eagles a 10-point advantage, much to the delight of the electric Ericksen Center crowd.
The Polars were soon able to trim their deficit to just two points before a Burns layup made it 25-21. Seven-straight from the visitors suddenly put UNW behind, 28-25, but the Eagles snatched the lead back after a three from
Caden Stevens (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) and a Greene layup on consecutive trips. The Polars went back ahead, but a fadeaway jumper from senior
Kelton Vincent (Volga, S.D./Sioux Valley) and a leaner from Greene tied it back up at 37 with 2:06 left in the opening half. Another Greene bucket tied it once again at 39-all, but Crown closed the half with four unanswered to take a 43-39 lead into the locker room.
A perfectly-designed set play out of the break got Burns an easy layup and set the tone for the second half. An Anderson layup and four more points from Greene kept Northwestern within two, but the Polars countered with a 7-0 spurt to give them a 56-47 lead, five minutes into the half. Grosz called a timeout, and the tide turned following those 30 seconds. Burns hit a quick three out of the stoppage, then Greene knocked down a fade-away jumper on the next possession to pull within four. A 17-2 avalanche ensued that put the Eagles, and the crowd, firmly in control for the rest of the afternoon.
Burns began the run with a pair of free throws, then a sequence of picture-perfect ball movement produced a Wolbert layup to pull within two at 58-56. Anderson then checked back into the game and made his mark, scoring back-to-back buckets, and assisting on a Greene layup on the following trip to give UNW the lead. The scoring surge was finished off by a Frazell three-pointer, a Wolbert pick-pocket and layup, and an Anderson tip-in to make it 69-60 with the crowd at full-throat.
To its credit, Crown was able to counter with a 6-0 run to make things interesting with 6:06 left to play, but a Nyamari jumper, a three-point play from Burns and a circus play from Wolbert pushed Northwestern's lead back to double-digits at 76-66. UNW's final seven points were scored at the free throw line as it closed out the regular season and Senior Day with an 83-73 win over the Polars, avenging a 94-91 loss from earlier in the season. The Eagles finished the regular season with a 14-11 record and a 9-5 conference mark, good enough for the No. 3 seed in next week's UMAC Tournament.
Burns and Greene matched each other's game-high 19 points, with the former adding three assists and two steals, and the latter six rebounds. Wolbert contributed 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Nyamari and Anderson each chipped in 11 points, giving Northwestern five players in double figures. Nyamari also pulled down six boards, and Anderson dished out three assists. Seniors
Kelton Vincent (Volga, S.D./Sioux Valley) and
Noah Deedrick (Rochester, Minn./Century) grabbed four and three rebounds, respectively. UNW was efficient from deep, taking only 13 attempts and making seven of them (53.8%). The Eagles also scored 14 points off of Crown turnovers, while the Polars were not able to score any.
Northwestern will travel to Minnesota Morris for the UMAC Semifinals on Wednesday, February 26
th at 7:00 PM. The Cougars earned a share of the UMAC regular season title and are the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Catch all the action on the UMAC Sports Network.
