NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team could not solve Crown College on either end of the floor in an 88-60 loss on Wednesday.

The Knights built an early 20-13 lead with just under 12 minutes to play, but Crown took control of the game with a 29-2 run over the next 7:53 to take a 49-20 lead into halftime.

MLC came out strong to open the second half and cut the deficit to 11 points, but the Storm responded with a 19-0 run over the next seven minutes to put the game away.

The Knights did not have an answer for the Storm's match-up zone defense all night. MLC committed 21 turnovers (16 in the first half) and shot 34.8 percent from the field and 28.0 percent (7-25) from beyond the three-point arc.

Crown's Tim Wendel caused problems for the the Knights on the other end, as the reigning UMAC Player of the Year finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

Josh Tomlin led the Knights with 13 points. Ethan Eisenmann added six points and nine rebounds.

MLC fell to 4-16 on the season and 1-11 in UMAC play in defeat. Crown improved to 7-13 overall and 5-6 in UMAC play with the win.

The Knights will return to action on Saturday, February 8, when they travel to Northwestern-St. Paul for a game scheduled to start at 3 p.m.