MINNEAPOLIS – The North Central University (NCU) men's basketball team hosted the 5-3 (UMAC) College of St. Scholastica Saints on Wednesday evening. In a thrilling and pivotal UMAC matchup, the Saints were able to pull away from the Rams in the overtime contest to take the win by a final score of 103-106.

Game Recap
 
First Half
 
A high-flying firework display of shooting in the first half stole the storyline in this one. The Saints came out of the gate with the early advantage by going on an immediate 6-0 run from shots in the post. Showing their strength and size over the Rams, they managed to outpace NCU with a few key offensive boards early on. To accommodate the Saints' size, NCU started to show a full-court press and it paid off with back-to-back steals by junior guard Jalen Dunlap (Houston, TX, Hightower High School) to get their offense going. In the first half, the Rams were able to force the Saints to turn the ball over 9 times that led to more opportunities in transition. When CSS didn't turn the ball over, however, they were able to shoot an impressive 56% from the field and 40% from three in the first half. The Blue and Gold battled back a handful of times by shooting their own 54% in the first half from the field, highlighted by a couple pull-up jump shots by sophomore forward Micah Filer (Sacramento, CA, Capital Christian) (8 first-half points). The Rams and Saints headed into halftime knotted up at 43 each.
 
Second Half
 
In the first minute and a half of action in the second half, the Rams jumped out to a quick 50-46 lead over the Saints from fade away turnaround jumper by Seth Fuqua (Colordao Springs, CO, Vanguard). After trading back and forth for a minute, Riley Loukinen (Little Falls, MN, Little Falls High School) came alive with two massive three-pointers that put the Rams up 59-50 at the 16-minute mark. The Rams continued to gather momentum on the Saints and extend their lead to 63-52 from two more steals by Jalen Dunlap that led to easy buckets on the other end by Justin Castro. Over the next 8 minutes of play, the Saints found their groove offensively and managed to slowly chip away at the Rams' lead. The Saints started to find their spark from behind the arc and went on an 11-2 run to tie it up to 72-72 with 7 minutes left. Down the stretch, NCU and CSS traded leads in a tight battle. With 8 seconds left in regulation and the score at 89-92 in favor of the Saints, head coach Dan DeWitt drew up a play that executed perfectly. Justin Castro (Kissimmee, FL, Gateway High School) drove down the court and kicked it to Riley Loukinen on a flare screen to the opposite corner, where he knocked down a game-tying three-pointer with time expiring to send the game into overtime. In the five minutes of overtime, the Saints got out to an early seven-point lead and managed to hold it for the duration of the overtime. A late push in the final seconds by the Blue and Gold wasn't enough and it resulted in a heartbreaking 103-106 loss.
 

Key Performer(s)

• Riley Loukinen fired on all cylinders from behind the arc on the night. The senior guard knocked down 7-of-9 threes to spark the Rams offensively with 23 total points.
• Micah Filer was a consistent threat throughout the entire contest by shooting an efficient 9-14 from the field and recording 19 points and 8 rebounds.
• Justin Castro tied his career-high in points with 21, while also chipping in 4 rebounds, and 7 assists. 

Looking Ahead
The men's basketball team will hit the road this upcoming Saturday and take on the University of Northwestern, St. Paul Eagles in another UMAC contest. Tip-off is slated for 3:00pm.