NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team was unable to pull off the upset of Northwestern-St. Paul in a hard fought 79-73 defeat on Saturday.

The Knights battled UNW to a 31-31 tie at the half after holding the Eagles to just 28.6 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes.

MLC led by as many as seven points in the second half, and pushed the lead back to six (55-49) following a Jared Witkowiak three-pointer with 9:52 to play in the game, but UNW outscored the Knights 16-4 over the next four minutes to take a six-point lead of their own with 5:50 to play.

Austin DeNoyer's lay-up with 35 seconds remaining cut the deficit to only two points, but that would be as close as the Knights could get in the final minute as the Eagles went 4-4 from the free throw line to put the game away.

Ian Paulsen was dominant on the glass throughout the game and finished with a game-high 16 rebounds to go with 15 points. DeNoyer led the Knights with 18 points off the bench, while Witkowiak (11 points) and Jack Heichelbech (10) joined them in double figures.

MLC fell to 1-4 on the season and 0-2 in UMAC play in defeat. UNW improved to 5-4 overall and 2-0 in league play with the win.

The Knights will return to action on Wednesday, December 11, when they travel to North Central for a game scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m.