MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- Tuesday night North Central Men's Basketball hosted Northwestern College in a key match-up in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. Both teams came in with just one loss in their first seven league games. But Tuesday the Eagles scorched the nets over the first twenty minutes and the Rams were never able to get back in the game in 94-60 home loss.

North Central (12-7, 6-2) came in with a chance at climbing to the top of the UMAC standings with a victory in Tuesday's game versus Northwestern College (St. Paul, Minn.). Those chances evaporated very quickly under the outstanding shooting that the Eagles posted through the first 20 mintues of action.

As a team Northwestern was 26-39 from the floor (.667) and 9-16 (.562) from behind the arc in the first half. 

Senior Wade Chitwood (Grinell, Iowa/Grinell) hit a three on the Eagles first possession and that would be as close as the Rams would get over the entire 40 minutes. He would go on to destroy the Rams defense by shooting 8-9 from behind the three point line and 12-13 from the floor overall. He tallied 34 first half points to single handedly hold North Central at bay at halftime where NCU trailed 65-29.

North Central would get the score under 30 several times in the second half but Northwestern held a lead that was simply insurrmountable on Tuesday evening. The Rams fell to 6-2 in UMAC play which is second in the conference standings going into a weekend double header.

Junior Bryce Burkman (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) recorded a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds on the night. Sophomore Luke Chafin (Dayton, Ohio./Troy Christian) added 12 points and 6 rebounds. 

Senior Nathan Roeder (Hudson, Wis./Hudson), the top scorer in the UMAC, was held to 6 points on 2-18 shooting from the floor but did pass out 9 assists.

The Rams will be back in action on Friday when they host The University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minn.) at 7:30 p.m.