MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- After a tough start to their Upper Midwest Athletic Conference season Men's Basketball got back on track with a pair of key road wins over the weekend. North Central made the UMAC northern road trip and returned with a victory over Northland College and The College of St. Scholastica to keep the chase for a conference post-season tournament berth alive.

Friday the Rams faced off with Northland College (Ashland, Wis.) in Ashland with both teams still in search of their first conference win. Both teams got off to a good start shooting the ball and the score was knotted at 9-9 four mintues into game. After NCU took a brief lead on a driving lay-up from senior Bryce Burkman (Winsted, Minn./Maple Grove) Northland answered with a three point shot that made it 12-11 in favor of the host Lumberjacks. NCU got back in front on their next possession when sophomore Luke Chafin (Dayton, Ohio/Troy Christian) got a lay-up but the Jacks answered with another basket to settle things at 14-13 with 14:38 to go in the opening half.

Freshman Isaiah Rustad (Hudson, Iowa/Hudson) then hit a clutch three just seconds later to make it 16-14 for NCU and the Rams would never trail again. The three-ball from Rustad began a decisive 18-2 run that earned North Central control of the game and a 31-16 advantage with less than seven minutes remaining. Northland would fight to within 33-24 at the break.

The teams traded baskets early on in the second half but North Central pulled ahead by double-figures for good when sophomore Clarke Mossman (Marshalltown, Iowa/Marshalltown) got a key lay-in to make it 37-26 just less than two minutes into the second half. NCU eventually pushed the difference to 53-32 when Luke Chafin got a tip-in put back at the 12:27 mark and the lead would never be smaller than 16 the rest of the way. The Rams would lead by as many as 27 when a steal from Rustad led to Chafin getting an easy lay-up with 4:14 remaining.

Luke Chafin led NCU with a game high 25 points and 5 assists. Bryce Burkman added 14 points and equaled a game high with 7 rebounds. Clark Mossman added 12 points and 7 boards with Isaiah Rustad scoring 9 points and grabbing 7 rebounds.

The Rams held Northland to .382 from the floor while shooting .544 from the floor themselves. NCU had 20 assists on the night.

Saturday the Rams faced off with one of the teams fighting for a spot in the UMAC post-season tournament in what might have been a must-win match-up with The College of St. Scholastica (Duluth, Minn.). The Rams were ready from the opening tip jumping out 6-0 on the Saints and never trailing on the way to a confidence building road win.

St. Scholastica got with 8-6 at the 15 minute mark of the opening half but that would be as cloase as the game would be over the final 35 minutes of game action. On their next possession NCU began a run that resembled the same they used the night before to separate from Northland. Luke Chafin got a lay-up and junior Josh High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) followed up with one of his five three point baskets to key a 17-2 run that spanned nearly eight minutes and gave the Rams a 25-8 lead that proved too much for the Saints to overcome. North Central would lead 38-20 at the break.

The start of the second 20 minutes saw the Saints begin a rally that cut the Rams lead to just 38-28 before Josh High stemmed the tide with a big three point shot about 2:30 into the half. CSS would get within ten points at several spots in the second half before Luke Chafin hit a clutch three point basket to make it 51-38 with jsut over 12 minutes left. The Saints would get within 11 with just more than a minute left but the Rams held off any miraculous last minute runs to earn the road victory.

Josh High was the Rams leading scorer on the night with 19 points on 5-7 shooting behind the three point line. Luke Chafin added 17 points and 6 rebound. Bryce Burkman and Clarke Mossman each added 13 to balance out four players in double figures.

North Central gets little time to enjoy their wins as they get back to action this week with string of games versus the top three teams in the UMAC beginning on Tuesday. NCU will travel to The University of Northwestern (St. Paul, Minn.) on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. match up with the Eagles.

Friday the Rams go to The University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minn.) for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off with the Cougars. Saturday NCU takes on Crown College (St. Bonifacius, Minn.) at 5 p.m.

Morris is currently the top team in the UMAC with a 6-1 mark. Crown and Northwestern are each at 5-2 on the year.