Mankato, MN — This afternoon, continuing their journey on the road, the North Central University (NCU) Rams took on the Bethany Lutheran College (BLC) Vikings for their last conference game of the regular season. Starting out strong, the Rams pull ahead of the Vikings early, but BLC fought hard to get back into the game. With nine lead changes and strong offensive performances on both sides, the Vikings were able to clinch the win with a final score of 80-71.
From the jump, the Rams controlled the game on both ends.
Micah Filer sunk the first shot with a three from the left wing, adding to his 2000 career point total. Playing a disruptive style of defense out of the gates, the Blue & Gold were able to rattle the Vikings into 3 turnovers in the first 5 minutes. Although NCU held the lead through ten minutes of action, the Vikings rose to the challenge. BLC began to flip the script by upping the pace, scoring fast break transition buckets, and working their way to the charity stripe. The Rams gave up an 8-0 run and found themselves down by 10 points with 5 minutes left in the half. However, NCU big man
Cameron Thomas led a late-period scoring surge for the Rams with his tenacious low post finishing, giving North Central the one-point edge going into the break, 33-32.
Coming out for the second half of action, the Rams were feeling good with their late first-half momentum swing, but knew it wasn't going to take an excellent second half to put the Vikings away. Unhappy with their performance to this point, Bethany Lutheran took their defensive pressure up another notch to begin the half. This led to more fast break opportunities for the opposition. Just when it appeared BLC would pull away, NCU forward
Jonathan Thompson started making plays, tallying 4 points and 3 rebounds in a span of three minutes. The lead went back and forth until the score was knotted up at 60 with 7 minutes remaining. This is when things start to break down for DowntownU, as they give up a devastating 12-0 and just could not stop the bleeding. The Rams committed too many fouls in the second half, sending the Vikings to the line 18 times in the second half, where they would shoot 76.9% on the evening. NCU would go on to lose 80-71, ending their regular season play and eliminating the men from UMAC playoff contention.
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This concluded the regular season for men's basketball. Stay tuned for post season NCCAA games!
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