MINNEAPOLIS-- Saturday's action in St. Paul lived up to it's billing as the featured Upper Midwest Athletic Conference game of the week. NCU led for most of the game, by as many as ten points, before The University of Northwestern rallied back to lead by five with around five minutes left. North Central sustained focus through the Eagles run and surged back to win 76-73 and secure a portion of first place through the first month of conference play.

The Rams (5-6, 4-0 UMAC) never trailed by more than five in the first half and found a way to build a ten point lead three minutes into the second half after leading 34-39 at the break. Northwestern showed why they have been the dominant program in the UMAC the last 36 months, erasing the NCU lead to jump in front 57-55 with 9 minutes to play. North Central would fall behind 64-59 with less than six minutes to go before the Rams defense produced stops and a collection of players contributed offense to answer the home team surge earn the road victory at Northwestern.

KEY SEQUENCE OF THE GAME

In a game with numerous momentum changes, the decisive sequence game over a 90 second span with 5:30 left to play. It began on the defensive end with a block by sophomore Joel Cline (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest) that gave the Rams a team rebound. The response by the Northwestern bench earned a techincal and junior Travis Voigt (Green Bay, Wis./N.E.W. Lutheran) drained the free throws to trim the UNW lead to 64-61.

After the teams traded empty posessions over the next minute, Travis Voigt hit a three point shot to tie the game. NCU got another stop and senior Cody Martin (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville) stamped his name on the game by nailing another three pointer that gave NCU the lead for good with 3:55 left.

Martin, Voigt and junior Isaiah Rustad (Hudson, Iowa/Hudson) combined to go 6-7 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to seal the Rams win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Four Rams reached double figures led by Cody Martin who totaled 18 points.
• Travis Voigt (17), Joel Cline (15) and freshman Jared High (12) balanced the score sheet.
• NCU shot 15-18 at the free throw line (.833) while UNW fired 17-25 (.680).
• The Rams fired .458 (11-24) from the three point line.
• A three point and free throw percentage advantage helped NCU overcome a 38-32 rebound advantage for the Eagles.

KEY PERFORMER OF THE GAME

In a game where balanced scoring keyed the Rams victory it is difficult to highlight a single player's performance over another. But Cody Martin was instrumental at the point guard spot for the Rams.

Martin tallied 18 points with 5 assists, both game high totals. He was 4-4 at the free throw line and 4-5 behind the arc in the Rams first victory over Northwestern during the senior's NCU career. The victory over Northwestern is the Rams first since 2010.

UP NEXT

North Central will be back in action next weekend when they travel to the southern end of the UMAC for a pair of conference games. Friday NCU plays at Martin Luther College (New Ulm, Minn.) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday the Rams take on Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato, Minn.) at 3 p.m.