Minneapolis, MN -- This evening, the North Central University (NCU) men's basketball team was welcomed back home to kick off the first game of the season at Clark-Danielson Gymnasium. The Rams faced the Carleton College (CC) Knights in their second straight non-conference matchup against a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opponent. The previous matchup between these two teams resulted in a road loss for NCU with a final score of 57-50.NCU sought revenge tonight against the Knights, but ultimately fell once again with a final score of 81-77. Trailing by 11 points with under 4 minutes to play, the Rams came so close to completing the comeback. With his final three-pointer midway through the second half, graduate student
Tanner Holtman surpassed 1,000 career points as a Ram in his fifth season wearing the navy and gold.
The first half began fast-paced and in competitive fashion. The Rams missed their first 5 shot attempts and turned the ball over 5 times to start the game. Meanwhile, the Knights opened up a 9-0 lead to start. Finally, grad student
Tanner Holtman got a driving layup to go to put NCU on the board.
Carrington McNeal and
Malik Siggers provided a spark off the bench, including a few breakaway layups and timely three-pointers. With plays from these key players, North Central was able to keep the deficit to single digits until late in the first half. With just under 4 minutes to go, Carleton went on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 13. A jumper from
Carrington McNeal cut it to 11, heading into halftime with a score of 41-33 with the Knights out in front. Carleton shot an effective 51.5% from the field and 55.6% from deep in the half.
Returning from halftime, the Rams had a newfound momentum that put pressure on the Knights. NCU's
Nik Feller got two huge three-pointers to drop to get the deficit back to single digits. North Central's offensive efforts surged forward with promise, with fastbreak layups and three-pointers from key players such as
Malik Siggers,
Carrington McNeal, and
Tanner Holtman. McNeal's crucial rim attacks and free throws kept North Central within striking distance, but they couldn't close the gap completely. North Central did a better job of getting to the stripe in the second half, shooting 20 FT attempts that led to 14 points. Two costly technical fouls from the Rams would seemingly halt any momentum the team started to build. Down the stretch,
Malik Siggers tried putting the team on his back offensively, scoring 5 straight for the Rams. With under a minute remaining, the game tightened as McNeal hit two big free throws to bring North Central within 2 points. Needing a stop, the Rams committed a costly foul that sent the Knights to the line where they would cash in on both attempts to make it a 4-point game with 9 seconds remaining. The tension built as the seconds winded down, but Carleton ultimately held on to win it 81-77.
Top Performers:
Looking Ahead:
This Saturday, the Rams will hit the road and head to Decorah, Iowa to go up against the Luther College Norse. This matchup is set to start at 4:00 PM.
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