ASHLAND, Wis. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team went on a 17-0 run early in the second half and never looked back on the way to a 70-58 win at Northland College on Sunday.

The two teams traded the lead several times in the first half, but the Lumberjacks emerged with a 36-34 lead heading into halftime and then scored the first three points of the second half.

MLC would take control from there, however, scoring 17 unanswered points and holding Northland scoreless for more than six minutes to take a 51-39 lead.

The Knights built the lead as big as 14 points (58-44), but Northland fought its way back into the game and cut its deficit to 60-55 with 4:25 to play. MLC responded with a 10-3 run to finish the game to secure its first win of the UMAC season.

Defense was big for the Knights in the second half as they held Northland to just 33.3 percent shooting while forcing 14 Lumberjack turnovers. For the game, Northland shot 39.6 percent from the field and committed 22 turnovers, 15 of which were MLC steals. 

The Knights shot 50.0 percent from the field in the second half and 46.3 percent for the game. 

Austin DeNoyer led the way for MLC with 18 points on 6-11 shooting from the field. Micah Kieselhorst added 10 points and three steals off the bench, while Ian Paulsen led the team with four steals to go with nine points and seven rebounds. Ethan Eisenmann grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, and Josh Tomlin dished out a team-best five assists.

MLC improved to 4-11 on the season and 1-6 in UMAC play with the win. The Lumberjacks fell to 4-12 overall and 1-6 in league play in defeat.

The Knights will return home to host Minnesota Morris on Wednesday, January 22, in a game scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m.