MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- Two times will not be enough for North Central University and The University of Minnesota-Morris. The teams will have to meet up a third and decisive time after North Central burried the Cougars with a barage of three point shots in an 87-80 victory on Saturday night.

North Central (13-12, 8-6 UMAC) secured the third seed in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference post-season tournament on Saturday as they defeated The University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minn.) at home on Parent's and Senior Night in Clark-Danielson Gymnasium. The Rams built a 17 point advantage late in the first half to lead 36-19 with 3:42 left. Morris closed the half on a 5-2 run that got them within 40-28 at halftime.

North Central would lead 55-39 with 14:42 left before the Cougars would start scraping back into the game. A lay-up from senior Jordan Harrell (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) made it 57-48 at the 11:18 mark to stop a 9-0 Cougar run.

Morris would eventually get within 57-52 before junior Josh High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) canned one of his nine three pointers with 8:25 left. The Cougars would score on their next two trips but High got free again to hit another three to push it back to 63-56 just a bit more than a minute later.

An experienced and determined Morris squad refused to go away and trimmed the deficit down to 65-63 with 5:20 remaining. The Rams got a stop on defense and High once again hurt Cougar hearts with a three ball that kept NCU up by two possessions with 4:33 left.

With North Central up just 68-65, senior Luke Chafin (Dayton, Ohio/Troy Christian) converted an old fashioned three-point play on the Rams next trip and after a steal by Jordan Harrell, freshman Travis Voigt (Green Bay, Wis/N.E.W. Lutheran) got free on the wing to hit one of his three, three point shots. NCU led 74-65 with 3:42 left and the Rams would have to melt the clock away at the free throw line.

North Central would end up shooting 13-16 at the charity stripe over the final 3 minutes and held on to seal the victory. Luke Chafin was 7-8 during that run that kept the Rams in front despite a pair of thee pointers from the Cougars.

Overall the Rams were 12-20 from the three point line, led by Josh High who was 9-12 to equal a career high 27 points. His performance was one shy of the NCU single game record and High is one of only two players to hit nine shots from downtown in a single game.

Luke Chafin added 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in his final home game as a Ram. Travis Voigt ended the night with 12 points and a career high 7 assists. Jordan Harrell posted 9 points and 9 boards in the final home game of his NCU career.

The North Central victory earned them the third seed in the UMAC post-season tournament next week. That means they will play second seed Minnesota-Morris for a third time, this time at Jim Gremmels Court in Morris. The playoff semi-final will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The highest remaining seed will then host the UMAC Championship Game on Saturday, February 28 at time yet to be determined. Morris defeated NCU 78-61 at Morris on January 30.

Saturday's win was the 100th career victory for head coach Jon High at North Central. He is the third coach in program history to reach that mark.