MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- Men's Basketball was defeated by The University of Northwestern at home on Tuesday night. The Eagles bombed the Rams with a red hot three point shooting stretch in the first half and North Central was never able to recover in an 81-67 loss.

North Central (7-11, 3-5 UMAC) fell behind by double-figures midway through the first half after the Eagles jumped out 27-14 over the first 13 minutes. The Rams battled back to within 29-21 on a jumper from senior Luke Chafin (Dayton, Ohio/Troy Christian) with 4 minutes to go before the break. But the Eagles once again surged to take a 43-27 advantage to the locker room. Northwestern used 7-10 shooting from the three point line to control the momentum in the opening half.

After the Rams scored on their first possession of the half the Eagles immediately hit another three point shot to push the lead to 46-29. North Central fought back with an 8-0 run to get within 46-37 just less than three minutes into half but misssed a shot that would have cut the difference further. Northwestern converted an old-fashioned three point play on the other end that would trigger another run by the Eagles.

Northwestern led 60-39 with 11:48 left and it would be up hill the rest of the way for the Rams. North Central fought the whole way and managed to get within ten a couple of times over the final minutes including with 2:03 and 1:35 left on a pair of jumpers from Luke Chafin. Down 11, Chafin missed a jumper on the wing that would have made it single digits with around 70 seconds left and that sealed the final outcome.

Luke Chafin led all scorers with 27 points and 5 rebounds. Chafin moved into the 16th spot on the NCU career scoring list after Tuesday's effort put him at 1149 points.

Senior Jordan Harrell (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) overcame a night full of double-team defense to score 15 points with 8 rebounds and 3 blocks despite playing just 24 minutes with foul trouble. Harrell is currently 17 points away from moving into the top ten on the Rams all-time scoring list after he moved into second on the all-time career rebound roster over the weekend.

Junior Josh High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) added 11 points on 3-4 shooting from the three point line. High is now sixth on the all-time list for Rams three point shooters with 136 career made trifectas in just less than 3 full seasons.

For the game Northwestern narrowly outshot the Rams with UNW firing .518 which bettered North Central's even .500. The Rams actually made two more shots (31-29) overall from the floor but the Eagles nailed 10, three-point shots. North Central was 4-9 from the three point line while UNW was 10-19.

The Eagles earned a 36-31 rebound edge and made more free throws (13) than the Rams attempted (6). North Central recorded more assists (14-13) but had more turnovers (8-6).

North Central will be in action again this weekend when they travel to the southern end of the UMAC for a pair of league games. Friday NCU takes on Martin Luther College (New Ulm, Minn.) in a 7:30 p.m. tip off. Saturday the Rams are at Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato, Minn.) for a 5 p.m. start.