ASHLAND, Wis. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team was unable to hold onto a second-half lead in a 71-68 loss at Northland to start Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play on Friday.

The Knights started strong, holding a 34-29 lead at the half, and continued that momentum by pushing the lead into double digits (43-31) in the first two minutes into the second half.

The LumberJacks answered, however, with a 14-2 run to tie the game over the next five minutes, and wrestled away the lead at 52-51 with just over 10 minutes to play. 

The teams went back and forth from there, trading the lead five times until a 7-0 run by the LumberJacks gave them a 68-61 with under two minutes to play.

MLC battled back, cutting the deficit to one in the final minute, but could not complete the comeback as Northland held on down the stretch.

The Knights made three more field goals than the LumberJacks, but Northland outscored MLC 17-10 at the free throw line, as well as outscoring them 18-12 from beyond the three-point arc.

Jack Heichelbech led three MLC scorers in double figures with 20 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Micah Kieselhorst added 13 points, while Seth Veers chipped in 10 points.

The Knights fell to 0-9 on the season and 0-1 in UMAC play in defeat. Northland improved to 1-8 overall and 1-0 in league play with the win.

MLC will return to action tomorrow (Saturday, December 11) when it travels to UW-Superior for a game scheduled to start at 4:45 p.m.