MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team gave North Central University everything it could handle on Thursday night in a UMAC Tournament quarterfinal, but the Cougars went cold late in the game and the No. 3 seed Rams were able to rally for a 65-57 victory. UMN Morris ends the season at 4-6 overall.

The opening minutes of the game were not kind to Minnesota Morris as North Central surged out to a 17-4 lead in less than six minutes. The Rams screeched to a halt on the offensive end after that, scoring just 11 points the rest of the way into the break. Jaret Johnson had two baskets in a 10-0 run that pulled the Cougars to within three and Dillon Haider scored the last six points of the half for UMN Morris to give the team a 30-28 halftime advantage.

Two free throws from Haider and a layup from Ian Carlin gave Minnesota Morris its largest lead early in the second half, 34-29. North Central scored five straight to knot the score at 34-34 and from that point on neither team led by more than four until less than 30 seconds remained. NCU's Tanner Holtman connected on a go-ahead three-pointer to make it 56-54 with just over two minutes left. A pair at the line for North Central pushed the lead to 58-54. Kenneth Riley responded with a layup with 46 seconds left, but that was negated by a three-point play from Justin Castro with 27 seconds to play. Though Haider was able to get the lead down to four with 17 seconds left, the Cougars were forced to foul and North Central connected on all four of its attempts in the closing seconds to pull away.

Haider ended with a team-high 12 points on the night and Johnson added 11. Will McBee had nine points and seven rebounds off the bench, while Corbyn Alexander ended with a team-best nine boards on the night.