NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team built a big lead and held off a late North Central charge to win 64-61 in Wednesday's home finale.

In the final home game in the careers of Ian Paulsen, Austin DeNoyer, Ethan Eisenmann and Josh Tomlin, the four seniors combined to score 36 points and grabbed 31 rebounds in the win. 

Paulsen also put his name in the record books by breaking the MLC career blocks record. Paulsen entered the game two shy of Tom Engelbrecht's (2000-04) record of 148 career blocks, and finished with three in the game to set the new mark of 149 career blocks.

The teams battled back and forth for much of the first half, but MLC closed the half with an 8-0 run, capped by an alley-oop from Joseph Hirsch to Paulsen, on the way to a 39-32 halftime lead.

MLC scored the first 11 points of the second half to push the lead to 20 points, but fell into a slump where it scored just one field goal over a 10-minute period to allow the Rams to cut the lead to three points. In the final minute, the Knights missed several chances to put the game away at the foul line, but made one last stop in the final seconds to secure the win.

DeNoyer led the Knights with 17 points, while Jack Heichelbech added 14 points on 7-13 shooting. Eisenmann and DeNoyer each tied for the team lead with 10 rebounds.

MLC improved to 5-17 on the season and 2-12 in UMAC play with the win. NCU fell to 5-18 overall and 2-11 in league play in defeat.

The Knights will return to action on Saturday, February 15, when they travel to UW-Superior for a game scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m.