St. Bonifacius, MN — Tonight, the North Central University (NCU) Rams took on the Crown College (CC) Polars in St. Bonifacius. This being their second time matching up with Crown, the Rams came in confident from their win on home court in the Clark-Danielson gymnasium. The crowd was charged with energy as the two rival schools went up against each other once more. With eight lead changes and great basketball played by both teams, Crown was able to steal the win away from the Rams with a finishing score of 68-63.

Crown was able to jump out to an early lead by attacking the paint and getting to the free-throw line. However, North Central stayed in the hunt with jump shots made by a variety of Blue and Gold players. By minute twelve, the Polars were able to stretch it to a twelve-point lead, with a couple of demoralizing three-point buckets from their big man. Fighting hard to close the gap, the Rams showed through with their defensive stops, holding CC to 2 points scored over the subsequent nine minutes. In the last thirty seconds of the first half, NCU sharpshooter Micah Filer made a tough jump shot, followed it up with a steal, and turned that into two more points just before the buzzer sounded, cutting the gap to 32-29 Crown. 

With a back-and-forth start to the second half of the game, the NCU men were fighting with everything they had to take their first lead of the game. However, the Polars had other plans in mind, as their starting five were able to execute on enough offensive trips to fend off the Rams in the early stages of the half. Able to eventually claw their way back up, and take the lead with just under eleven mins to play, NCU was finally starting to see the tides turning in their favor. The remaining minutes of regulation featured a total of 8 lead changes. Your Rams continued to battle and cash in from the charity stripe, going 10-10 in the second half. In the final minutes of play, a couple of crucial turnovers and fouls that sent Crown to the line, are what ultimately decided NCU's fate in this one. Jaylen Carrizales and Cameron Thomas showed up big in the second half, putting forth a combined 22 points and 11 rebounds on the night. Crown came out on top, sending the Rams home with a 63-68 loss.

Top Performers:

Micah Filer: 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
Jaylen Carrizales: 11 points and 3 rebounds
Cameron Thomas: 11 points and 8 rebounds

See stats from tonight's game HERE.

Looking Ahead:

The NCU Rams are taking on the University of Minnesota-Morris tomorrow at 3:00pm. Join us live as we cheer the men on while they're on the road!

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