St. Bonifacius, MN -  The MLC Knights squared off against fellow conference opponent Crown for a Saturday afternoon tip. The Knights are coming off a 100-74 loss at UM-Morris on Friday and looked to pick up their first UMAC win of the season. MLC hung in for another spirited first half, but were ultimately worn down by the Polars' depth and fell to Crown 84-64.

    The first half saw Crown hold a comfortable lead throughout the first 12 minutes of action. The Polars would lead 41-30 after a Jacob Van Dam jumper at the 2:04 mark, but MLC gained some momentum with a 7-0 run that was highlighted by a pair of Thomas Balge isolation layups. As a result, the Knights entered halftime only down 41-37, despite the Polars controlling most of the half.

    For a second straight game, MLC shot very well in the first half, shooting 51.6 percent and had big scoring production from Micah Kieselhorst who had 13 points in the half.

    To start the second half, Crown came out aggressive on both ends of the court and would extend their lead to 57-43, following an old fashioned 3-point play from Jacob Masek with 15:44 remaining. The Polars continued to build on the versatility of their forwards, when Cade Carroll padded onto the Crown lead with a 3-pointer from the wing to make it 60-43. From that point on, Crown held the Knights to just 29.4 percent from the field the rest of the half and went on to secure the 84-64 win.

    The Knights were led in scoring by Balge, who had 16 points, while Kieselhorst finished the game with 15 points.

    The Knights gave another great effort, but were again unable to match their opponent man for man and dropped another game on the road. MLC (2-21, 0-12) will head back home on February, 17 for a matchup against North Central.