MINNEAPOLIS – A tight, back-and-forth game between North Central University men's basketball and Crown College on Friday night was forced into overtime, with NCU relying on late-game free throws to pull out a close win by a final score of 95-91.

NCU and Crown (St. Bonifacius, Minn.) battled tight through the first half, which saw seven lead changes in the first 14 minutes before the Storm surged out to a nine point lead. The Rams fought back, pulling within three with 2:18 remaining before the break, but Crown maintained a cushion and held a 41-36 lead at halftime.

The second half saw the Rams come storming out of the locker room on a 15-2 run. A few minutes later, on back-to-back buckets from juniors Joel Cline (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest) and Travis Voigt (Green Bay, Wis./Northeastern Lutheran), North Central extended its lead to nine and looked like it might begin to pull away from Crown, but the Storm wasn't ready to settle yet. With a trio of three-pointers in less than three minutes, Crown regained the lead from NCU. The Rams pulled ahead again on a jumper from Voigt with 3:56 remaining, and even stretched their lead out to four with 1:11 to go in regulation, but the Storm capitalized on two NCU missed free throws, plus a deep three and a lay-up with two seconds left to tie the game at 77 and send it to overtime.

Crown carried that momentum into the extra period, scoring the first bucket on a three-pointer just 21 seconds into the frame. But behind a pair of free throws from junior CJ Lewis (Minneapolis, Minn./University of Wisconsin-River Falls) and a lay-up from Cline, the Rams battled back into the lead and kept it for the remainder of the game. Although Crown pulled within two points with just two seconds left in the game, Voigt dropped a pair of free throws to help NCU secure the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference battle.

Voigt led the Rams with 24 points and, on his fifth bucket of the night—a jumper less than three minutes into the second half—also notched the 1,000th point of his NCU career. Lewis tallied 23 points on the night, in addition to pulling down seven rebounds and swiping six steals. Cline added 20 points and eight boards, and sophomore Jared High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) chipped in 17 points.

North Central (8-12 overall, 4-9 UMAC) wraps up its 2016-17 home schedule Saturday afternoon as they host the Cougars of the University of Minnesota-Morris (12-9 overall, 7-5 UMAC). Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m. at CLC Gymnasium.