New Ulm, MN - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team had a good opportunity to close out Crown College at home on Wednesday evening, but a Micah Ladd steal at halfcourt turned into a breakaway layup for the Polars that ultimately gave them the game 78-76.

MLC had the lead 76-74 on their previous offensive possession, but Crown would force another turnover on an inbounds play to set up the tying bucket from Parker Behne to put them in position at the end. 

Following the Ladd layup that put the Polars up 78-76 with a little over one second left, the Knights drew up a play that featured a long throw from Seth Veers to Luke Fix at the opposite free-throw line. Fix had a shot to tie it up after catching a pass that resembled the Duke Christian Laettner buzzer-beater. However, there wouldn't be enough on it as the Polars escaped with a comeback victory on the road.

MLC got off to another hot start, especially offensively, and saw themselves up 50-35 at halftime. Benjamin Pearson had another impressive performance and put up 18 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. Pearson found success in the mid-range and he and the Knights took what the Polars' zone was giving them early on.

While the Knights shot 45 percent in the first 20 minutes, their percentage from the field started to dip in the second half as Crown made their rally. Still, MLC kept it at double-digits after Trey Lauber hit a corner 3-pointer around the 12-minute mark. From there though, the Polars chipped away and kept it within single digits for the next few minutes until they took their first lead of the contest with under four minutes remaining to make it 72-71.

A couple of times it looked like the Knights would come out on top as Adam Loberger and Fix converted on momentum-swinging "and one" plays near the rim down the stretch. But the Polars didn't let up and did what they needed to defensively to get the win over MLC.

Pearson (22 points, 10 rebounds) and Loberger (19 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists) picked up double-doubles to lead an MLC team that shot 11-of-13 from the free-throw line. Neither team shot high percentages from beyond the arc, but Crown gained the edge in the paint, finishing with a 34-24 advantage in that area.

MLC (7-15, 2-9) will now move on to their final home game of the season when they square off against Minnesota Morris at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 15.