MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- On a night where they were pushed to the limit, North Central University Men's Basketball responded. Despite battling in a back and forth game and finding themselves down midway through the second half, NCU found enough resolve to pull away for a 91-75 home victory over Northland College on Friday evening.

North Central (10-6, 5-1) got to double-digit leads at several points in the first half before leading 40-33 at halftime. Everytime the Rams looked like they could make a few plays and overtake Northland College (Ashland, Wis.), the Lumberjacks proved resilient and made multiple runs to keep things close. They would eventually find a way to take the lead and run with the Rams for most of the second half.

The Rams were able to hold the lead through the early stages of the second half before the Lumberjacks (2-15, 1-5) took their first lead of 52-51 at the 13:37 mark. The game would be tied five times to go along with four lead changes over the final 13 mintues of the game.

A collection of Rams players responded in the clutch including sophomore Luke Chafin (Dayton, Ohio/Troy Christian) who hit a key wing jumper with 6:53 remaining that gave NCU a 69-67 lead they would hold on to for the rest of the game. The Jacks missed a couple of three point shots and junior Bryce Burkman (Winsted, Minn./Maple Grove) got a transition lay-up and then put back his own free throw miss to give NCU a 74-67 lead with 5:23 left.

North Central pushed the lead to 76-67 at 5:04 but time still remained for a final Northland push if not for a key final play by the Rams. After working the shot clock senior Nathan Roeder (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) found Junior Jordan Harrell (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) open on the wing and the big man drove baseline for a two-handed slam that gave NCU the energy to finish off a character building victory.

NCU would lead by as many as 18 before arriving at the 91-75 final outcome.

Nathan Roeder and Luke Chafin each had big performances with 27 and 25 points respectively to go along with 5 assists a piece. Chafin and Jordan Harrell, who added 16 points, led NCU with 7 rebounds. 

Bryce Burkman added 8 points and 6 rebounds.

The Rams return to action on Saturday with a 5 p.m. home tip-off versus The College of St. Scholastica (Duluth, Minn.) in a key Upper Midwest Athletic Conference match-up.