BOX SCORE

CROOKSTON, Minn. - The Wolves (16-1, 7-1 NSIC) led by double figures for the majority of the meeting with Minnesota, Crookston (4-12, 1-6 NSIC) on Saturday evening and finished the game with a 70-61 win.  This marks the 17th straight win for NSU over UMC; Northern has never lost a game to the Golden Eagles.  The Wolves host the University of Mary next Saturday evening in a game that will be televised on KSFY tv.

Kyle Schwan sunk a jumpshot to give the Wolves a 2-0 lead over the Golden Eagles and Northern never looked back.  They scored eight unanswered points to open the game and pushed their lead to double figures before 13 minutes expired off the clock.  The Golden Eagles managed to tie the game one time, but that was the closest they got to the 15th ranked team in the nation.  The Wolves led 40-28 at the half.

Minnesota, Crookston out-scored Northern 33-30 in the second half, largely due to three-point shooting and containing the three-point shot against the Wolves.  Entering the game as one of the worst long range shooting teams in the league, the Golden Eagles hit nearly half of their three-point attempts in the game and sunk six threes in the second period while holding the Wolves to just two.  But Northern escaped the pressure by drawing plenty of fouls and reaching the free throw line 21 times in the contest.

Northern's largest lead of the game was 18 points, reached twice early in the second period.  Every time that the Golden Eagles looked to mount a comeback, Northern responded to take back the momentum.  UMC kept the Wolves to just three points in the final three minutes of the game, but turnovers and key NSU rebounds meant that the closest the Golden Eagles would get was a 69-61 deficit with just 30 ticks remaining on the clock.  The Wolves sealed the win by a score of 70-61.

The Wolves spread the ball around in the game, receiving points from nine different players.  Kevin Ratzsch led the team with 23 points and was followed by Levi Hamilton with 13.  Robert Thomas had a team high seven rebounds, followed by Hamilton with six.  The Wolves shot 49.0% (24-49) from the field and 76.2% (16-21) from the stripe.  They had 33 rebounds and 17 turnovers.

Crookston also had a balanced offensive attack, receiving a game high 11 points from Eli McVey and ten points from Akeem Cubie.  The remainder of the scoring came from seven other players.  Justin Peddycoart topped UMC with seven of the team's 34 rebounds.