St. Paul, MN - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team fell on the road to Northwestern 81-62 on Saturday afternoon. The Knights were unable to replicate the same performance that got them the win against the Eagles in early December.

MLC did finish the first half well and took a 34-33 lead going into halftime, after trailing the Eagles by 10 points on a couple of occasions.

The score was deadlocked at 42-42 with 15:06 left in the second half, until Northwestern went on a 16-4 run and took a 58-46 lead. MLC managed to bring the deficit back to single digits when Nate Miller connected on a 3-pointer to make it 60-51, but the Eagles put the game away by attacking the rim and grabbed the double-digit win at home.

The Eagles were led by Caleb Hoilien, who finished with 28 points. Micah Pocernich added 11 points and had five steals.

Ethan Kjenstad had one of his better performances of the season and paced the Knights with 22 points. Both Kjenstad and Thomas Balge shot 7-for-12 from the field, with Balge tacking on 19 points.

Despite the loss, MLC shot 39.6 percent from the floor (21-for-53) and shot well from the free throw line (12-for-15).

MLC goes to 4-20 overall and 2-10 in the UMAC and will now head back home for their contest with UW-Superior on Friday, February 16, at 7:15 p.m.