MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- After trailing for all of the first 30 minutes at home on Friday night Men's Basketball was looking for play makers to step up. Several players stepped up and the Rams surged down the stretch on clutch three point shooting to defeat Faith Baptist Bible College 91-83.

North Central (3-6, 0-0 UMAC) was outplayed for most of the first half and never led at any point in the first 20 minutes. The Eagles led by as many as 12 with 3:44 left in the opening half before the Rams got four straight baskets from junior Luke Chafin (Dayton, Ohio/Troy Christian) who also assisted on a three pointer from freshman Travis Voigt (Green Bay, Wis./N.E.W. Lutheran) that capped the first half with NCU trailing 39-36.

The teams traded surges early on through the second half but North Central still trailed deep into the final 20 minutes. With 11:21 left the Eagles converted a pair of free throws that made it 61-55. From that point the Rams started to make plays and gain momentum that would eventually tie the game for the first time at 62-62 on a jumper from Luke Chafin with 8:42 left.

The Rams got a stop on defense the next trip and then Chafin hit another jumper that gave NCU their first lead with just more than 8 minutes remaining. Faith would tie the game around the six minute mark before junior Cody Martin (Savage, Minn./Burnsville, Minn.) hit a three pointer on the following trip for NCU that gave the Rams a 71-68 lead.

Faith got a pair of free throws, a stop on defense and a three pointer that gave them back their final lead of 73-71 with 5:10 left. But once again Cody Martin canned a huge shot to put the Rams back in front 74-73. The Eagles went 1-2 at the line their next possession to tie it but a pair of nice baskets from the low post by senior Jordan Harrell (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) put the Rams up 78-74 with 3:19 left.

Then in, possibly the most critical stretch of the game, North Central led 80-77 and had the ball with 2:17 left. After a pair of offensive rebounds Cody Martin nailed another three pointer and the Rams went 8-8 at the free throw line in the final 1:50 to take the victory.

Luke Chafin posted a game high 26 points with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. His 14 point first half allowed the Rams to stay close and gave the team a chance to earn the win in the second half.

After posting no points and just one assist in the first half, Cody Martin was a game changer in the second 20 minutes. He scored all 13 of his career high point total in the final 16 minutes including going 3-3 behind the three point line and pulling down 3 boards.

Despite the opposing defense attempting to take him out of the equation, Jordan Harrell posted a critical double-double of 10 points and a game high 12 boards. Travis Voigt added an effective 13 points in 18 minutes on 4-7 shooting. Freshman Joel Cline (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest) once again proved to be a weapon off the bench with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Junior Clarke Mossman (Conrad, Iowa/Marshalltown) helped the Rams with 6 points, a game and career high 7 assists and 5 rebounds.

North Central will be off until next Friday when they travel to St. Paul to take on Hamline University. The Rams and Pipers are scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off in the Rams' final game before Christmas Vacation.