ANKENY, Iowa-- North Central earned a solid road victory on Tuesday night defeating Faith Baptist Bible College, 91-63, in Ankeny. After a tight first half the Rams blew the game open in the second half to win their third straight, equalling their longest win streak of the season.

North Central (9-7, 7-1 UMAC) knew they were in for a test as they traveled to Faith Baptist Bible College (Ankeny, Iowa) on Tuesday night for an NCCAA regional game with the Eagles. After scoring the first bucket of the game Faith Baptist jumped out to  13-5 lead less than four minutes into the contest. From there the teams would play a very tightly contested first half before the Rams scored on seven straight trips and took a 27-20 lead just past the midway point of the period. Faith was able to stay close and the Rams took a 39-36 advantage to the break.

Over the first several minutes Faith was able to tie the game at 42-42 and momentum seemed to hang in the balance. Neither team scored for over two minutes before North Central finally retook the lead for good on a jumper from senior Cody Martin (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville) with 16 minutes left. The bucket got North Central going and the Rams rattled off a 13-2 run that proved decisive.

Faith cut the lead back to 55-47 with 12:41 left but the Rams scored on their next trip to reestablish a double-figure lead. By the 10 minute mark the Rams had stretched the difference to 67-47 and never looked back on the way to leading by as many as 29 in the victory.

KEY SEQUENCE OF THE GAME

North Central struggled to break away from Faith Baptist for most of the first 30 minutes of the night before they put the Eagles away. After the teams traded empty possessions for two minutes, Cody Martin hit a jumper with 16:04 left that gave NCU a 44-42 lead. After a defensive stop freshman Jared High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) made a pair of free throws to make it a two possession game. 

After another defensive stop, Martin nailed a three pointer with around 15 minutes to play. A pair of free throws from the Eagles kept Faith within 48-44 but Martin answered with another big three and the Rams were off and running, scoring on seven straight possessions. Though the Eagles got within eight with more than 12 minutes left, the Rams had established their confidence and pulled away for the win.

KEY PERFORMANCE OF THE GAME

Cody Martin did it all for the Rams as a catalyst for the offense scoring 14 points but also dishing out 12 assists. He also snagged 5 steals and 5 rebounds. His 12 assists are the fourth best single game performance in Rams history and moves him into seventh on the all-time career assist list.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• North Central shot an impressive .561 (37-66) from the floor with 12 of 14 players who logged minutes hitting at least one field goal.
• The Rams held Faith Baptist to 63 points, a season low for the NCU defense
• NCU recorded 25 assists as a team and posted 11 steals to help overcome a rebound disadvantage of 33-29
• Four Rams reached double-figures led by junior Isaiah Rustad (Hudson, Iowa/Hudson) with 15
• Jared High added 14 points and sophomore Joel Cline (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest) added 12 despite playing just 19 minutes with foul trouble

UP NEXT

North Central hosts Northland College (Ashland, Wis.) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference play. Saturday the Rams host Finlandia University (Houghton, Mich.) at 3 .m. in a non-conference game.