Minneapolis, MN -- Today, the North Central University (NCU) men's basketball team hosted the Maranatha Baptist University (MBU) Sabercats in a non-conference matchup at Clark-Danielson Gymnasium. The first half would be tighter than NCU would have hoped as they would lead by just 4 points after 20 minutes played. However, the Rams would have an improved play in the second half as they scored with ease on the Sabercats winning this one 91-62.
In the first half, NCU would get on the board first thanks to a 3-pointer from Tanner Holtman on the Ram's first possession. Cameron Thomas would follow up with a layup to put the Rams up 5-0 over the Sabercats. Over the next five minutes of action, North Central would outscore MBU 14-4 and stay comfortably ahead of the Sabercats. With the score 22-7 in NCU's favor, the Sabercats would slowly start to chip away at the 15-point deficit. MBU would eventually tie the game at 28-28 with 4:13 left in the half. However North Central would be able to retake the lead thanks to a jumper by Tanner Holtman in the paint. The last few minutes would feature buckets by both teams and end up in the Rams' favor at 38-34 after a smooth jumper by Carrington McNeal.
Nik Feller would open up the first half with a jumper in the paint as he would extend North Central's lead to 40-34 over Maranatha. The Sabercats would go on a 4-0 run to cut NCU's lead to two, which would be the closest this game would get for the rest of the afternoon. North Central caught on fire to spark a 14-2 run to open this game up at 14:37 remaining. With NCU rolling, freshman Jayden Livingston would get the feed from teammate Ja'Shon Simpson and score his first career points as a Rams. NCU would continue to pull away as the Sabercats could do nothing to slow down the Ram's offense. As a team, North Central shot 62% from the field and 46% from deep in the second half. a pair of 3-point daggers from NCU's Steven Colon and Tyler Brown would all but seal this one at 91-62 in favor of the home team.
Top Performers:
Looking Ahead:
Next, the men will head down to Fayette, Iowa for an exhibition against Division II Upper Iowa University. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm next Tuesday!
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