New Ulm, MN—On a day when MLC honored the 1999-00 Knights' men's basketball team that made it to the NAIA tournament, former Athletic Director Jim Unke, and Nate Miller, Seth Veers, and Elijah Schoof for Senior Day, the present-day MLC men's basketball team played another down-to-the-wire contest against a conference opponent. The Knights outplayed Minnesota Morris throughout the entirety of the game in a packed and amped-up LSC gymnasium. Still, MLC was unable to close out the Cougars, who battled back to defeat MLC in the final seconds of regulation 86-85.

MLC took an 84-80 lead with 1:20 left, but the Cougars knocked down their free throws while the Knights missed a few down the stretch. A Pal Dak old-fashioned 3-point play ultimately did the Knights in as the senior guard for Minnesota Morris made it 86-85 with his made free throw attempt. MLC had the ball with six seconds remaining following that devastating blow, but Benjamin Vasold was unable to hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Free throw shooting played a big part in the outcome of this game as Minnesota Morris made 90 percent of their attempts, while MLC made 58 percent. MLC had a six-point lead at halftime (40-34) and went up by as many as 11 midway through the second half, but Dak never let the Cougars out of the game, going off for 38 points on almost 50 percent shooting.

Adam Loberger led MLC with a double-double effort of 22 points and 12 rebounds and did what he could to give the Knights their third UMAC win. Benjamin Pearson also played a significant role at point guard once again for MLC, finishing with a double-double of his own (12 points, 10 rebounds). Vasold totaled 13 points, while Ethan Kjenstad made some nice plays in the second half to give the Knights a shot at a win, as the junior had 10 points.

MLC (7-16, 2-10) will have two games left on the schedule this season, and up next is a road game at North Central on Wednesday, February 19, at 5:30 p.m.