MORRIS, Minn. - After suffering their first home loss of the season Tuesday, the Minnesota Morris men's basketball bounced back nicely with an 87-79 win over North Central Friday night in UMAC play at Jim Gremmels Court.

Early in the season, Tyler Ukkelberg gained the team's lone triple-double of the season in a win at Presentation. Friday night, backcourt mate CD Douglas nearly posted one of his own as he was only one rebound and one assist shy of achieving the feat. He led the team with 24 points. On the defensive end, he made eight thefts.

After spotting the Rams the game's first four points, the Cougars went on a 13-2 spurt to take an early 9-point edge. The lead reached double-digits for the first time following a Noah Grove 3 with 6:47 left in the half and got to as high as 19 following a Grove lay-in that made it 36-17. Minnesota Morris held North Central to 30 percent shooting in the first half as the Cougars would take a 14-point into halftime.

The second half was a different story though as both teams made more shots than they missed. The Rams shot 56.7 percent in the second frame to close the halftime gap. North Central used a 13-2 run to trim the deficit to 1 at 55-54 with 9:29 left in the game.

Douglas started a run that would help get the Cougars advantage back up to double figures. His back-to-back layups made it 59-54. Later, a pair of Jeremy Halverson 3s ended a 15-5 run that gave Minnesota Morris a 70-59 lead with 5:49 remaining.

The Cougars shot 56.3 percent in the second half and would not be seriously threatened again in the second half.

Grove scored 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Ukkelberg also grabbed eight boards to go along with 14 points. 

Minnesota Morris (8-4, 4-1 in UMAC) hosts Northwestern Saturday at 5 p.m.