ASHLAND, Wis.-- North Central University Men's Basketball took the floor for a regular season finale on Saturday night at Northland College needing a win to clinch a berth in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Post-Season tournament. After falling behind midway through the first half, the Rams responded to take a halftime lead and ground out a tough second half to earn a 79-66 victory over Northland that gave them their first UMAC tournament appearance in the team's first year in the league.

North Central (15-10, 9-5) found themselves down 19-11 with 10:49 left in the first half. Eventually the Rams were able to take back the lead on a lay-up from junior Jordan Harrell (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) at 6:08 of the first half but the two teams would exchange leads four times over the next three minutes.

Northland College (Ashland, Wis.) led 27-26 with 3:55 left in the first half before sophomore Luke Chafin (Dayton, Ohio/Troy Christian) pulled down a defensive rebound and tossed a long outlet pass to freshman Rodney Richardson (Des Moines, Iowa/Grandview Park) who worked a give and go with fellow freshman Derek Elliot (Coates, N.C./Coates). Richardson converted the lay-up, was fouled and converted the free throw to give NCU a 29-27. The Rams would never trail again in the game.

North Central took a 35-32 lead to the break and stayed in front for most of the second 20 mintues. Northland tied the game at 42 less than 5 minutes into the second half but NCU would take the lead again a minute later and would slowly pull away from the Lumberjacks over the remaining time. NCU got to a double-figure lead for the first time on a pair of free throws from senior Nathan Roeder (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) with 8:48 remaining.

The 'Jacks would would get as close as seven points in the next two minutes but North Central found a way to hold off the home team and eventually lead by as many as 14 before earning the final 79-66 victory.

Nathan Roeder closed his regular season NCU career with a double-double on a pair game-highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds. Jordan Harrell recorded 18 points and 7 rebounds. Luke Chafin also had a double-double of 11 points and a game high 10 rebounds along with 4 steals.

North Central pounded the Jacks on the glass with a 49-29 rebounding advantage.

The victory clinched a spot in the UMAC Post-Season Tournament for North Central. The Rams finished in a three way tie with Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato, Minn.) and The University of Minnesota-Morris who each had a 9-5 record in conference play.

Bethany Lutheran earned second place overall on official league tie-breaking procedures. NCU and UMM ended up tied after all six tie-breakers and the Rams won the third seed on a coin flip conducted by UMAC officials.

North Central will take on second seed Bethany Lutheran on Wednesday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Mankato. Northwestern College (St. Paul, Minn.) is the regular season champion and they will host Minnesota-Morris at the same time the Vikings host NCU.

The winner of each semifinal will play in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Championship game to be hosted by the highest remaining seed on Saturday, February 23 at 7 or 7:30 p.m.