ST. PAUL - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team was unable to slow down the hot-shooting Northwestern Eagles in an 86-55 defeat on Saturday.

The Eagles did most of their damage from beyond the three-point arc, making 15 of 31 attempts while the Knights made only one of 12 from downtown in the game.

UNW took the lead from the start, making eight first half triples on the way to a 46-23 halftime lead, and then closed the game in the second half with seven more field goals from downtown.

The Knights shot 44.2 percent from the field, but were unable to make up the difference in points from long range. 

Ian Paulsen led the team with 14 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Erich Neumann added 11 points in his first start of the season, while Austin DeNoyer scored nine points off the MLC bench.

MLC fell to 1-14 on the season and 0-8 in UMAC play with the loss. UNW improved its record to 11-4 overall and 8-0 in conference action.

The Knights will return to action on Tuesday, January 17, when they travel to Viterbo for a game scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.