News Release

ST. PAUL, Minn. — With a 76-68 victory over Martin Luther College (Minn.) on Saturday evening, the Northwestern College (Minn.) men’s basketball team picked up their sixth straight win, improving their overall season record to 18-4 and Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) showing to 9-2. The Eagles remain all alone in first place in the UMAC regular season standings. The visiting Knights dropped to 8-13 overall and 6-5 in conference play with the loss. Northwestern College has topped Martin Luther in their last 6 head-to-head meetings.

Tied at 13-to-13 with 11:52 remaining in the first half, the host Eagles racked up 11 unanswered points as Northwestern boasted a 24-to-13 advantage with just under 7 minutes to go in the half. The Knights whittled away at their deficit and trailed by just 7 points at the midway mark in a 37-to-30 score.

Northwestern made 14-of-29 (48.3%) from the field in the first half and turned the ball over on just 3 occasions in the first 20 minutes of play. Martin Luther kept the league affair close though with their hot shooting from outside the arc. The Knights were successful on 5-of-7 three-point field goal attempts and tallied assists on 8 of their first 10 field goals.

Martin Luther began the second half on a positive note, putting together a 12-to-7 run and trailing by just 2 points at 44-to-42 at the 15 minute mark. Over the course of the next 10 minutes, the Eagles worked their lead back to 7 points at 66-to-59 with 5:21 still to go in the game. The Knights were not about to go down quietly though as their solid outside shooting allowed them to close within 3 points at 66-to-63 with 3:45 on the scoreboard. Martin Luther was able to close within 3 points on 1 other occasion in the final minute, but 6 straight free throws in the final minute by Joseph Sir (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood High School) and Caleb Baker (Princeton, Ill.) allowed Northwestern to seal the victory.

The Eagles struggled to find their shooting touch in the second half, connecting on just 11-of-30 (36.7%) from the floor. Northwestern finished the game shooting 42.4% (25-of-59), their second lowest mark of the season. Solid free throw shooting proved to be the difference maker as the Eagles swished home 19-of-22 (86.4%) from the charity stripe. Josh Strelecki (Crystal Falls, Mich./Forest Park High School) netted a team-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting to lead Northwestern. A night after setting a new career-high for points, Daniel Hanson (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) tied his career-high for rebounds with 15, also adding 13 points. The Eagle point-guard combo of Dave Zuleger (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West High School) and Caleb Baker looked impressive as Zuleger dished out a new career-high 7 points, while Baker owned a season-high 12 points along with 4 assists.

For Martin Luther College, the storyline belonged to Jake Schwartz (Waterloo, Wis.), who broke out for a game-high 27 points. Averaging just 9.5 points per game entering the contest, Schwartz made 10-of-18 from the field, including 6-of-11 from long range. Drew Kock (Saginaw, Mich.) and Nathan Nass (New Ulm, Minn.) joined him in double-figures for points with 14 and 12 respectively.

The Eagles are now 19-4 all-time against Martin Luther College and 9-2 at home against the Knights. Northwestern College will continue a stretch of four straight home games on Friday, February 10th, hosting Northland College in a 7:30 p.m. showdown.

Martin Luther College Men vs Northwestern College Men
02/04/06 5:00 PM at St. Paul, Minn./Ericksen Center
At St. Paul, Minn./Ericksen Center
NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE MEN 76, MARTIN LUTHER COLLEGE MEN 68
MARTIN LUTHER COLLEGE MEN (8-13, 6-5 UMAC)
Jake Schwartz 10-18 1-1 27; Drew Kock 5-9 0-0 14; Nathan Nass 6-14 0-0 12;
Jeff Dolan 3-7 0-0 7; Keith Schleis 2-6 2-2 6; Aaron Schultz 1-3 0-0 2;
Dustin Uhlenbrauck 0-1 0-0 0; Brian Gephart 0-3 0-0 0; Caleb Kurbis 0-1 0-0
0; Jake Beilke 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-62 3-3 68.
NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE MEN (18-4, 9-2 UMAC)
Strelecki, Josh 8-12 1-2 20; Hanson, Daniel 5-10 3-4 13; Baker, Caleb 2-4
6-6 12; Anderstrom, Mike 4-8 3-4 11; Sir, Joseph 2-12 4-4 9; Krehbiel, Josh
2-4 0-0 5; Cramer, Andrew 1-2 0-0 2; Discher, Steve 0-1 2-2 2; Zuleger, Dave
1-6 0-0 2. Totals 25-59 19-22 76.
Martin Luther College Men.....   30   38  -   68
Northwestern College Men......   37   39  -   76
3-point goals-Martin Luther College Men 11-22 (Jake Schwartz 6-11; Drew Kock
4-6; Jeff Dolan 1-2; Brian Gephart 0-1; Nathan Nass 0-2), Northwestern
College Men 7-17 (Strelecki, Josh 3-3; Baker, Caleb 2-3; Krehbiel, Josh 1-1;
Sir, Joseph 1-7; Hanson, Daniel 0-3). Fouled out--Martin Luther College
Men-None, Northwestern College Men-None. Rebounds-Martin Luther College Men
35 (Nathan Nass 8), Northwestern College Men 35 (Hanson, Daniel 15).
Assists-Martin Luther College Men 17 (Jeff Dolan 5), Northwestern College
Men 17 (Zuleger, Dave 7). Total fouls-Martin Luther College Men 18,
Northwestern College Men 10. A-402
Northwestern College remains in 1st place in the UMAC regular season standings