MINNEAPOLIS - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team earned a hard-fought 84-81 win in overtime at North Central University on Thursday.

The game went back and forth throughout, with the Knights taking a 40-31 halftime lead thanks to a 10-1 run to close the first half.

MLC pushed the least to 12 early in the second half, but the Rams raced back and built a nine-point lead of their own with 7:03 to play in regulation.

Trailing 76-72 with 3:22 to play in the game, the Knights held the Rams without a field goal for the remainder of regulation, and tied the game on a Richard Eckmann lay-up with just under one minute to play to force the extra period.

In overtime, the MLC defense led the way as it held the Rams to just one field goal, and first-year guard Jonathan Riebe put the Knights ahead for good with a lay-up with 1:03 to play to push the Knights into the winner's circle.

MLC finished he game shooting 47.7 percent and made eight of 21 attempts from beyond the three-point arc. The Knights' defense held NCU to 41.9 percent for the game and also forced 17 turnovers.

Ian Paulsen led four MLC players in double figures with 18 points on 7-13 shooting from the field. Eckmann added 11 points, while Jack Heichelbech and Nate Lindloff each scored 10 points.

NCU's Micah Filer finished with a game-high 26 points, but the Knights forced him to shoot just 7-23 on the night.

MLC improved to 6-14 on the season and 3-9 in UMAC play with the win. NCU fell to 4-16 overall and 0-12 in league play in defeat.

The Knights will return to action on Saturday, February 2, when they host St. Scholastica in a game scheduled to start at 4:45 p.m.