ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team was unable to overcome slow starts in both halves in a 72-56 loss at Crown on Wednesday.

Crown raced out to a huge start to open the game, outscoring the Knights 25-5 in the first eight minutes before the Knights could get their feet underneath them. MLC was able to make a run in the final 12 minutes of the opening half, however, and cut the deficit to 39-33 at the break.

The Knights were unable to take advantage of that momentum, however, as the Storm outscored MLC 16-0 in the first eight minutes out of the locker room to open the second half, pushing the lead back over 20 on the way to 16-point win.

MLC outshot the Storm for the game, shooting 42.0 percent compared to Crown's 40.6. Turnovers were costly, however, as the Knights committed 26 miscues that led to 14 fewer attempts at the basket for the game. The Storm took advantage of those MLC mistakes and outscored the Knights 28-6 in points off turnovers.

Jack Heichelbech led MLC with 11 points, while Ethan Eisenmann added 10 points. Jonathan Riebe led the Knights with six rebounds.

MLC fell to 7-17 on the season and 4-11 in UMAC play in defeat. Crown improved to 16-8 overall and 10-5 in league play with the win.

The Knights will return home for the second finale on Saturday, February 16, when they host Northwestern-St. Paul in a game scheduled to tip off at 4:45 p.m.