St. Paul, MN - The MLC Knights men's basketball team took on the Northwestern Eagles on Friday evening. The Knights are coming off their first win of the season in a thrilling victory over Maranatha Baptist on Tuesday. The Knights were looking to keep the momentum going with a win over Northwestern in conference play. However, the Eagles put a halt to the MLC comeback in the second half and defeated the Eagles 89-57.

    The Knights came started the game with a lot of confidence and rhythm , driving to the basket and finishing strong at the rim. The Knights also displayed nice toughness on the defensive end of the court, making UNW work for every bucket down low. The game was tied 13-13 at the 12:30 mark, and Ezra Blumer had another impressive first half, grabbing every rebound possible and fought hard on defense. 

    The Eagles would then utilize their size and versatile team offense with their forwards stretching the floor and hitting outside shots. Northwestern would take a 9 point advantage in the next couple of minutes, which forced Coach Holzhueter to switch into a 2-3 zone on defense to limit the offensive options that had given UNW some success. The Eagles were able to combat that zone with solid passing and would extend their lead to 47-28 at halftime. 

    MLC stayed in a 2-3 zone to begin the second half, but Northwestern was able to find open creases towards the basket and pushed their lead to 60-35 at the 14:00 minute mark. Following the Eagles quick start to the half, the Knights would go on a 9-0 run, cutting their deficit to 16, making it 60-44 at the 12:10 mark. The run was fueled by a pair of Sam Hansen 3-pointers and a couple of breakaway transition baskets from Seth Veers and Paul Frick. 

    Following the MLC run, UNW called a timeout to regather themselves. The Eagles countered the comeback attempt with a trio of consecutive 3-pointers, whih sparked an 11-0 run, giving them a 71-44 lead. From there, the Knights were unable to stop the Eagles from the perimeter as they shot 37 percent from deep. 

    Overall, the Knights were led by Ezra Blumer who finished the night with another double-double (18 points and 10 rebounds). The Eagles received a big game from forward Caleb Hoilien who scored 33 points on 12-of-16 from the field on 75 percent shooting. 

    The Knights go to (1-12,0-4) on the season and will play tomorrow (Saturday) at North Central at 3 p.m.