Minneapolis, MN -- Tonight, North Central University (NCU) Men's Basketball was back at home for their Senior Day game and final regular season game as the Rams took on the University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) Cougars. The Rams recognized seniors Tanner Holtman and Chris Orsello before today's contest. NCU punched its ticket into the playoffs with last night's win over Crown, but came into today's game with aspirations of claiming the 3rd seed and building on their momentum. North Central did just that as they nailed 13 total threes on their way to a 79-64 win to claim the 3rd seed in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) 2023-24 Postseason Tournament.
Minnesota Morris wasted no time, scoring its first possession of the night. On the flip side, NCU started out rather rocky as they turned the ball over twice and went 0-5 from the field. Both teams struggled to take care of the ball in the first half, committing a total of 24 turnovers. Nonetheless, with the score 4-2 Cougars, sophomore Ja'Shon Simpson scored 8 straight points of a 10-0 run to give North Central the 12-4 lead with 10:37 to play. However, UMM answered right back with a 12-1 to take the 16-13 lead. A successful and-one from Tyler VanEtten would tie things at 16 apiece. Hot off his 25-point game last night, Carrington McNeal connected on a three-pointer to give the Blue and Gold the lead. They then extended that lead to 28-19 in part to buckets by senior Tanner Holtman and a Nik Feller three. In the final two minutes of the half, Holtman would continue his hot hand with 5 more points to give the Rams their biggest first half lead at 12 points. The Cougars banked in a last-second three to close the half at 33-25 in favor of NCU.
The second half was action-packed from the inbound. The team went back and forth trading buckets through the first few minutes, but then North Central started executing really well offensively and started to grow their lead. Nik Feller connected on some big shot to help carry the Rams to a 19-point advantage 5 minutes in. Freshman Jayden Livingston got in on the action with a three-pointer off the dish from Simpson. Tyler VanEtten played well offensively down the stretch with 7 points in the second. Around the 7-minute mark, head coach Jeremy Becker was able to start subbing his starters out and put the game on cruise control from there. The Rams connected on 8 threes in the second half, 13 total on the night. Senior Tanner Holtman posted his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, fitting for senior day. North Central rolled to a 79-64 win over Morris to close out the regular season.
Top Performers:
Looking Ahead:
The men enter the 2023-24 UMAC Postseason Tournament as the #3 seed and will face the #2 seeded University of Wisconsin Superior Yellowjackets next Wednesday, February 21st in Superior, WI. Game time is currently TBD.
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