ST. PAUL, Minn. – Basketball is a game of runs, and that was never the case more than Saturday's Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Championship Game between third-seeded University of Northwestern and No. 4 Bethany Lutheran College. Northwestern was scorching hot out of the gates and led by as many as 21 points in the first half, but the two-time defending champion Vikings found their footing and battled back to force overtime, where they would ultimately upset the Eagles on their home court by a 90-84 score to secure the UMAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
As previously mentioned, things went well for UNW early.
Elijah Burns (Grand Prairie, Texas/Roseville Area) scored two early paint baskets, and a
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) three-pointer made it 7-1, Eagles. After a 6-1 run by Bethany, Northwestern rattled off 14 straight points, scored by five different players, to make it 22-7. The Vikings were finally able to stop the bleeding and get back on the board, but after buckets by
Lewis Wolbert (Milaca, Minn./Milaca) and
Soren Anderson (Perham, Minn./Perham), plus a step-back three from
Caden Stevens (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista), UNW's lead grew to 18 at 29-11.
BLC was able to trim their deficit to 13 with 10:22 left in the half, but the Eagles answered with a 10-2 surge, including three consecutive scoring trips for
AJ Greene (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy), to claim their largest lead of the afternoon at 39-18.
Noah Frazell (Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock) and Greene each scored to keep the lead at 21 with 5:57 remaining, but Bethany Lutheran began to chip away. A pair of Stevens layups in traffic made it 47-32 at the 2:40 mark and Nyamari added a jumper with just over a minute to go, but the Vikings were able to pull within 13 at 49-36 heading into the intermission.
Coaches often talk about how important the "middle eight" (the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half) is, and if that's all you paid attention to on Saturday, you were probably able to predict which team came out on top. Bethany scored the first 15 points of the second half to take a 51-49 lead and leave the Ericksen Center stunned in disbelief. After a timeout by
Tim Grosz, Wolbert and Nyamari were able to calm the seas and put Northwestern back ahead by two, but five straight points by the visitors gave them a 56-53 edge at the 13:12 mark. Despite taking haymaker after haymaker, the young Eagles were able to punch back themselves and go on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to take the momentum back and go ahead, 63-56. BLC countered with an 8-0 spurt to go back ahead by one, which ignited a back-and-forth affair in the final eight minutes of regulation.
Trailing by one approaching the five-minute mark, Anderson got one to go at the shot clock buzzer, and Frazell drilled a deep three that sent the purple-clad crowd into a frenzy and made the score 74-70. Wolbert made a pull-up jump shot on the following possession to make it a five-point game with 3:47 to play, but Bethany Lutheran was able to pull within one with 2:31 left. Frazell came through again with 1:57 remaining, hitting a mid-range shot to make it 78-75, but Bethany's Drew Sagedahl, who was named Tournament MVP after scoring 29 points on Saturday, sunk a deep three-pointer with under a minute to go, tying the score at 78. After mid-range misses on each end, Nyamari had one more shot at the buzzer to win the game in regulation, but couldn't get the Hail Mary to fall.
Neither team was able to make anything in the opening minute of overtime, and after a BLC free throw to break the tie, Frazell cashed in another three-point attempt to put the Eagles in front, 81-79. It would be the last lead UNW would hold in the game, as the Vikings scored six straight to open up a five-point advantage with 20 seconds left. Nyamari immediately made a long three in front of the Northwestern bench to keep his team alive, but UNW would go scoreless the rest of the way as Bethany Lutheran was solid from the free throw line, resulting in a 90-84 win for the Vikings and their third consecutive UMAC Tournament Championship.
Greene led UNW's scorers with 16 points, adding seven rebounds. Stevens finished with 15 points and five rebounds, and Frazell chipped in 14 and six, respectively. Nyamari had 13 points, eight boards and three steals, while Burns logged 10 points in his final collegiate game. Wolbert tallied eight points and five assists, and Anderson snagged six rebounds.
Northwestern's season ends with a 15-12 record and yet another appearance in the UMAC Championship Game after a 9-5 conference slate. The bulk of the Eagles' roster will return next season, but they will sorely miss seniors
Kelton Vincent (Volga, S.D./Sioux Valley),
Elijah Burns (Grand Prairie, Texas/Roseville Area) and
Noah Deedrick (Rochester, Minn./Century), who contributed to 67 wins, 39 regular season conference wins, a regular season UMAC title, a UMAC Tournament title, and an NCAA National Tournament appearance in their time on campus.
