ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team overcame a 12-point halftime deficit by getting to the line and hitting their free throws in a 93-83 victory over the University of Northwestern on Saturday afternoon. The win snaps an 18-game losing streak against the Eagles and moves the Cougars to 6-4 (2-0 UMAC) on the season.
Trailing 45-33 at the half, Minnesota Morris was still down by 13, 74-61, with less than nine minutes left before a game-changing 18-0 run put the Cougars in command. Minnesota Morris went 23-of-24 at the foul line in the second half and 30-of-31 for the game. No Eagles fouled out, but they did have five players finish the contest with four fouls.
Outside of a three-pointer from
Blake Munson to put Minnesota Morris on top, 3-2, the Cougars never led in the first half. An 8-0 run from Northwestern gave the Eagles their first double-digit lead at 34-22 and they maintained that 12-point edge into halftime.
The largest UNW lead was 55-39 with just under 17 minutes to play before Minnesota Morris began to draw closer. Layups from
Pal Dak and
Kenny Placide got the the deficit back to single-digits, 57-48, a few minutes later but the Eagles managed to push their lead back to 74-61 on an Elijah Burns bucket with less than nine minutes remaining.
The Minnesota Morris comeback started with an
Ian Carlin layup on the next possession. Dak followed with a pair of free throws and then a three-pointer on the next possession to cut it to six. As fouls mounted on Northwestern, Munson gave the Cougars a 75-74 lead with less than five minutes to play and
Noah Kannegiesser was then fouled as he made a three-pointer at the 4:25 mark. After connecting on the free throw, UMN Morris had a 79-74 advantage.
In the closing stages, Kannegiesser made the final two field goals of the game for Minnesota Morris and four Cougars combined to go 10-for-10 at the stripe to clinch the victory.
Kannegiesser finished the afternoon with a team-high 23 points. Munson added 18 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Carlin and Dak both finished with 15 points.
Minnesota Morris is now off until a non-conference matchup at Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa on Jan. 3.
