DULUTH, Minn.-- North Central struggled on offense while the College of St. Scholastica blazed the nets from beyond the arch on Friday night. The result was the Rams playing catch-up all night and despite trimming a big lead down to six, North Central ran out of gas in a 97-79 road loss in Duluth.

Friday's match up saw the College of St. Scholastica build a lead throughout the first half. Despite mulitple chances to keep the difference under ten, the Rams trailed 50-36 at the break

Over the first ten minutes of the second half the Saints would extend their advantage all the way to 18 before the Rams were able to gather some momentum. A pair of back to back three pointers got NCU to within 78-72 with 5:18 to play. But that would be as close as the Rams would get and St Scholastica went 9-9 at the free throw line in the final minutes to seal the win.

KEY SEQUENCE OF THE GAME

After a pair of back to back three point baskets by junior Travis Voigt (Green Bay, Wis./N.E.W. Lutheran) and senior Cody Martin (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville) got North Central within 6 points the Saints answered back with an old fashioned three point play. The bucket and free throw made it 81-72 with 4:58 to play.

Voigt got all the way to the rim on the Rams next possession but after some contact the shot was off and St. Scholastica went the other way where they earned a foul. They converted the free throws and it was an 11-point game again with 4:18 left.

St. Scholastica got another stop and another pair of free throws to extend their lead to 13. Travis Voigt nailed a three pointer on the Rams next trip to get back to 85-75 with 3:29 to play but that would be as close as North Central could climb down the stretch.

KEY PERFORMERS OF THE GAME

Five Rams reached double-figures on Friday. Cody Martin led the Rams with 18 points while junior Isaiah Rustad (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) scored 16 points with a team high 8 boards. Senior Josh High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) and sophomore Joel Cline (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest) each scored 11 points. Travis Voigt also scored 11 points with 6 assists.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Despite five players in double-figures the Rams shot just .394 from the floor
• St. Scholastica fired .493 from the floor but an even better rate of .500 (13-26) from behind the three-point line
• The Saints outrebounded the Rams 46-34 which turned into a critical 17-6 advantage in second chance points
• Both teams got 50 percent or more of their first half field goals from three point shots and finished with over 40 percent of their made baskets coming from distance
• St Scholastica protected the rim in the second half while being whistled for just four fouls in the second 20 minutes

UP NEXT

With Friday's loss the Rams are out of the running for a second place regular season finish in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference but they have already clinched a spot in the league playoffs next week. On Saturday they can claim third place with a win at the University of Wisconsin-Superior (Superior, Wis.). The Rams and Yellowjackets tip off at 3 p.m. in Superior.