MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The North Central University Men's Basketball team came up on the short end of both games in the Northwestern College Eagles Tournament Friday and Saturday on NWC's Roseville, Minnesota campus. The Rams dropped a hard fought game 72-66 in the opener against the host Eagles after holding a 33-31 halftime lead. The next afternoon the Rams were blown out by Simpson College (Indianola, Iowa) 83-59.

"Overall I felt the Northwestern game was a good performance, especially for the second game of our season," NCU Head Coach Jon High said. "We didn't come back ready to play the next day though against Simpson. We have to develop the ability to generate the energy and emotion within our team, especially when we play back-to-back games. That is typical of a young, inexperienced team."

In the Friday night matchup with Northwestern the Eagles jumped out to an early 7-0 lead but NCU stormed back to take a 10-9 lead on the 5th and 6th made free throws in the first five minutes by Sophomore Guard Nathan Roeder (Hudson, Wis/Hudson). The game went back and forth the rest of the first half with neither team taking more than a five point lead. A three-pointer by Roeder with 4 seconds left on the clock gave the Rams a 33-31 lead heading into the locker room with the large and boisterous Rams fan section behind them. In the second half NWC came out strong, taking the lead and growing to 9 points with 13:39 to play. NCU responded and a Roeder jumper at 11:41 trimmed the lead to four but NWC was able to go on another run to take an 11 point lead with 6 minutes to play. NCU again fought back and knocked the NWC lead down to two points after an Andrew Berndt three with 1:15 left. NCU played solid defense on the next possession but with the shot clock winding down to the final seconds Northwestern guard Wade Chitwood broke the Rams backs with a fall away jumper from the left baseline to give NWC a four point lead with 40 seconds left. The Eagles were a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line in the final minute to keep NCU from pulling off the upset.

"I felt like we were right in the game the entire time," Coach High said. "We had a couple of scoring droughts in the second half but I was impressed with how we continued to come back from those deficits to get within two points with a minute to go. Northwestern hit a big shot with 4 seconds to go on the shot clock to increase the margin to four and Berndt had a good look at a 3 but missed."

Roeder had an outstanding overall game for NCU with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. Freshman post Bryce Burkman (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove), who was plagued by fouls in the opener against UM-Morris, was able to show what he is capable of with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. The Rams out-rebounded Northwestern 44-41 after struggling on the boards against UM-Morris Tuesday night.

"We were able to improve on our rebounding and Bryce really showed he can play at this level," Coach High said. "We had a great crowd of NCU supporters that showed up."

The next afternoon NCU took on a deep and talented Simpson College team that was able to outsize the Rams and dominated from the start, never letting the Rams gain a lead.

"We struggled all day with their size and strength. Their posts were very active and got us into foul trouble and their guards were difficult to contain," said Coach High. "Simpson was able to use their deep bench to wear us down and ultimately dominate the game. Hopefully we can learn what we have to do to compete night in and night out."

Roeder again led the Rams offensively with 14 points and was named to the All-Tournament Team. Burkman and Senior Ross Johnson (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) were the only other Rams in double figures with 10 and 11 points respectively.

NCU will head North on I-35 to Duluth Tuesday night to take on UMAC Conference opponent St. Scholastica. The Rams and Saints split a pair of games last year with each team winning on the others home court. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. following the Women's game.