MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team advanced to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Championship after defeating Crown College 85-79 Wednesday night in Morris, Minn. Carvin Fish led the scoring with 42 points in the win.
 
The Cougars improve to 14-12 on the season.
 
The Polars opened the scoring with a three-pointer on the first shot of the game. Fish answered on the following possession and then gave UMM the lead with another layup. A seven-point Crown run put the Polars back on top. UMM cut into the lead with a layup from Kaden Pieper and a triple from Thomas Tiernan. Back-to-back Polar threes pushed the lead to eight. Points from Fish and LeRoy Staples-Fairbanks IV on consecutive possessions brought the Cougars within four. The deficit was trimmed to two after a pair of Staples-Fairbanks baskets. Crown regained a nine-point lead with under six minutes left in the half. The Cougars responded with a layup from Fish, a jumper from Pieper, and a three-pointer from Fish. In the final two minutes, Crown extended its lead to double digits and went into halftime ahead 43-33.
 
Gustav Gunderson opened the second-half scoring by going 1-for-2 at the free-throw line. Crown soon pushed its lead to 14. The next five possessions resulted in made baskets, with neither team gaining ground. The lead hovered around double digits for the first 10 minutes of the half. The deficit began to shrink with a layup from Pieper, followed by a layup from Gunderson, and then a three-pointer from Jase Nelson to bring UMM within four. Free throws from Fish and a Pieper layup made it a one-score game. The Cougars regained the lead with less than four minutes remaining on a three-pointer from Pieper. Matt Thompson pushed the lead to five with another triple, and the UMM advantage grew to seven after a Tiernan layup. The Cougars held on down the stretch to secure the 85-79 victory.
 
Fish recorded the third-highest scoring performance in program history with 42 points. The sophomore forward shot 17-of-23 from the free-throw line, 1-of-2 from behind the arc, and 12-of-18 from the field. Pieper followed with 20 points. As a team, UMM shot 55.2 percent from the field, including 59.4 percent in the second half. Fish, Pieper, and Gunderson each dished out three assists to lead the team.
 
Defensively, Thompson led the team with 10 rebounds as the Cougars outrebounded the Polars 38-29. Fish totaled two steals to lead UMM, and Pieper recorded a team-high two blocks.
 
The Cougars will host Bethany Lutheran College in the UMAC Tournament Championship on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.