Box Score ST. PAUL, Minn. - North Central University (NCU) men's basketball suffered a tight loss on Tuesday evening at the hands of the Hamline University Pipers. The Rams were paced by a 19 point effort from freshman, Micah Filer, but it was not enough as the Pipers used a strong second half to pull away from the Rams as NCU suffered a 78-53 defeat.

Game Vitals

• Rams struggled on the offensive end shooting 17-57 from the field (29.8%).
• Micah Filer caught fire in the first period as he had 15 first half points (19 in the game).
• Hamline outscored the Rams 47-29 in the second half.
• Rams fall to an overall record of 2-4.

Game Recap

• The Rams were the first team to find the bottom of the net on Tuesday as they jumped out to an early lead within the first thirty seconds of the ball game. The momentum quickly turned in favored of the home teams as the Pipers were able to take a lead thanks to a six minute scoring drought from the Rams. Freshman, Micah Filer was able to silence the drought as he came in off the bench and added some much needed instant offense for the Ram's scoring attack as he went on a one-man 7-0 scoring run to take the lead for NCU. The Pipers began to settle in on the offensive end scoring 26 of their first half points in the final ten minutes of the period behind seven first half three-pointers which sent the Rams trailing 33-24 at the break. The Rams struck first again in the second half to cut the lead to seven but the Pipers stole the momentum back as they used the next three and a half minutes to spark a 10-0 run which pushed their lead to 19. Two free throws from Filer and a fancy finish by AJ McGrew, cut the lead to 15 with fifteen minutes to play, but the Pipers were quick to push their lead back to 19. The Rams kept battling but could not quite get over the hump as the Pipers continued to knock down outside shot after outside shot as they cruised to a 80-53 victory over the Rams. In the losing effort, the Rams were led by a strong performance from Micah Filer who finished with 19 points, tying his career high. The Hamline offense was fueled by Connor Knutson who was impressive all night for the Pipers as he knocked down five triples route to a 26 point outing for the senior.

Key Performers

• Micah Filer - 19 points (3-4 3 pt FG)
• AJ McGrew - 6 points, 5 rebound 
• Jaxson Kavanagh - 7 points, 2 rebounds

Next Up

• NCU will head into the Holiday break with a few days off as they prepare for their next stretch of games. The Rams will resume play next Thursday, November 29th, as they begin a two game home stand which begins at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday against Maranatha Baptist and concludes on Saturday, December 1st, against Faith Baptist at 3:00 p.m. 

MEDIA: If you need further information, please feel free to contact Justin Brown at 612-343-3539 or email Jdbrown@northcentral.edu.