Minneapolis, MN -- Tonight, North Central University (NCU) Men's Basketball kicked off the 2023-24 season with a short drive to play the Augsburg University Auggies. Last year the Rams also opened the season with a game versus the Auggies that ended in a heartbreaking 76-74 defeat at North Central. Tonight, these two squads put up another hard fought battle that would end in Augsburg's favor as the Rams would suffer the 85-79 defeat.
The Auggies would score first and open a 4-0 early lead. The Rams would eventually regain the lead off a fast break runner by
Carmello McNeal that would make the score 9-7 in favor of NCU. Then the transfer
Nik Feller would get out on the fast break and flush home the dunk to energize the North Central fans that made it out to the close road game. Things would go back and forth from then on as the first have would feature 10 total lead changes and 6 ties. With the game tied at 29-29 and just under 5 minutes to go in the half, Augsburg would be able to string together an 8-0 run that the Rams would be able to close to just a 5-point lead before the end of the half.
Ja'Shon Simpson would lead the way for the Rams in the first half with 9 points followed by
Nik Feller with 7. NCU would trail 41-36 going into the half.
Out of the break, the Rams would get the ball to senior
Tanner Holtman who would get just his first bucket of the game. The Rams would need Holtman to contribute offensively as he is their leading returning scorer at 9.6 ppg a year ago. Two minutes into the half, fellow senior
Cameron Thomas would grab a big-time offensive rebound and power up for the 2-pt finish to cut the deficit to just points. This would be the closest NCU got to the lead the rest of the half as Augsburg would maintain a steady lead throughout the entirety of the second half. With 1 minute left in the game, JaShon Simpson would drive the ball right and score to cut the lead to just 4 at 77-73. However, the Rams would foul on the other end and the Auggies' would make a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 6. Then NCU would come down and miss a three-point attempt and be forced to foul once more. Yet again, Augsburg would be clutch from the line as they sank both FT attempts to stretch it to 8. with 14 seconds remaining. After the Rams traded buckets for free throws, NCU would end up losing by a score of 85-79.
Top Performers:
Looking Ahead:
The men will host their home opener this Saturday, November 11th as they take on the Luther College Norse at 5:00 p.m.
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