ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. - The Minnesota Morris men's basketball team picked up a key 86-74 road win Saturday over Crown and moved two games up on the Storm for the fifth playoff spot with four regular season games remaining.

Defense helped give the Cougars a four-point halftime lead; offense preserved the 12-point win. The Cougars held Crown to 31 percent shooting in the first half. In the second half, UMM shot 67 percent (16-24) from the floor en route to scoring 51 points in the game's latter 20 minutes.

The Cougars led by as much as eight in the first half before the game became a back-and-forth affair. Tied at 29, Anthony Fisher gave the Cougars control down the stretch with back-to-back jumpers that helped give UMM a 35-31 lead at the break.

With their hot shooting, the Cougars never trailed in the second half. A Noah Grove jumper gave the Cougars their first double-digit lead three minutes into the second half. The advantage would get as high as 16 on three separate occasions.

Grove led all scorers with 23 points as he was one of five Cougars to reach double figures. CD Douglas had a 19-point, five-rebound, five-assist effort. Fisher and Jeremy Halverson each scored 12 points and Tyler Ukkelberg added 10.

Minnesota Morris (12-9, 7-5 in UMAC) will look run their win streak to four when they travel to Northwestern Friday night.