Ashland, WI -- The North Central University (NCU) Rams took to the road for their first game of the weekend against Northland College (NLC). NCU was able to take the lead early on and hold onto that lead for the remainder of the game. Northland would not go away easily, but the Rams would end up walking away with a 87-73 victory.

In the first half of play, the game went back and forth, but NCU was able to get an early six point lead. North Central continued to get buckets early and often after a Northland timeout. With back-to-back buckets from Micah Filer and a strong "and-one" bucket from Remy Wedgeworth-Brown, the Blue and Gold found themselves at a comfortable 20-9 lead half way through the first half. The Rams would build a lead as big as 17 in the first half of play as they continued to poor on the pressure. NLC made an effort to get back in the game, but NCU had a commanding 40-27 lead heading into the break.

As the second half set under way, North Central was able to maintain their lead through the first five minutes of the half. With the score sitting at 55-40, Tanner Holtman would catch fire for the Rams. Holtman traded buckets back-and forth with NLC, splashing home 4 three-point feild goals in a row. At the end of his hot streak, the Rams would sit at a 23 point lead with just over twelve minutes remaining in the half. As the remaining time crept under ten minutes of play left, Northland called a timeout where they would change their play style. NLC switched to a full court pressure defense which had the Rams stunned for a little while. As NCU struggled to adapt, Northland crawled back into the game with a 23-6 stretch. With the score sitting at 77-71, NLC had all the momentum. With three minutes remaining, North Central called a timeout to talk over the situation where things would change once again. The Rams came out of the break with stellar defense the remainder of the game and found their shot once again. NCU was able to stretch the lead back up the 14 points as the game would end with a final score of 87-73.

Top Performers:

Micah Filer: 20 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds
Tanner Holtman: 20 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals
Zach Kjeseth: 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists
Caden Freetly: 12 points, 4 rebounds, and a +16 night

Looking Ahead:

NCU will continue on their Wisconsin road trip as they head to Wisconsin-Superior tomorrow (1/21) for another conference matchup at 3:00 PM.

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