DECORAH, Iowa - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team was unable to slow down the hot-shooting Norse from Luther College in the second half of an 82-59 defeat on Saturday.

The Knights trailed by only two points (36-34) at the half thanks to 11 first-half points from TJ Babinec, and took a 39-36 lead early in the second half thanks to five quick points from Babinec out of the locker room.

The Norse took control from that point thanks to a 19-2 run, and the Knights were unable to get the deficit back into single digits the rest of the way.

Luther finished the second half shooting 18-29 from the field and made seven of 10 attempts from beyond the three-point arc during that stretch. For the game, Luther shot 54.1 percent overall and 50 percent (11-22) from beyond the three-point arc.

MLC shot 47.2 percent from the field, but was outscored 21-7 in second-chance points and 24-7 in points off turnovers.

Babinec finished with a team-high 16 points on 7-12 shooting from the field. Ian Paulsen added 14 points and a team-best four assists. Nate Lindloff finished with 10 points for MLC.

The Knights fell to 1-10 on the season with the loss. Luther improved to 4-7 with the win.

MLC will return to action on Wednesday, January 3, when it hosts St. Scholastica in a UMAC contest scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m.