Notables
-Rematch of last year's UMAC Tournament Championship game
-CSS shot 27 percent from the floor in the second half
-Points in the Paint: UNW-42, CSS-30

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DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – Six-time reigning Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament champion and preseason favorite University of Northwestern outscored the St. Scholastica men's basketball team 27-14 over the final nine minutes to rally past the Saints 76-69 on Saturday at the Ericksen Center.
 
CSS in Control Early
After the teams traded buckets in the opening five minutes, the Saints went on a 9-0 spurt to take a 17-8 lead. CSS maintained a multiple possession lead the rest of the first half and grew the margin to as much as 11 following a Joe Stark (Hayward, Wis./Hayward HS) 3-pointer with three minutes remaining.
 
Northwestern Closes First Half Strong
Following the Stark 3-pointer, Northwestern closed the first half on a 7-0 run to cut the halftime margin to 40-36. The Eagles shot 61 percent from the floor in the first half, while the Saints were at 47 percent. Once again the difference was the free throw line as CSS was 6-for-8 and Northwestern missed its only free throw attempt.
 
The Eagles continued their run at the start of the second half, tying the game at 40-40. Northwestern took a brief lead four minutes into the half on a Will Gisler layup. However, St. Scholastica responded and quickly regained the lead. The margin was six with 9:25 left following a Dylan Zimmerman (Elmdale, Minn./Upsala HS) layup.
 
CSS Unable to Hold Off Eagles
Northwestern came back with a 9-0 run in the next two minutes to take a 58-55 lead. A pair of Brandon Newman (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) free throws gave the Saints the lead once again at 59-58 with over six minutes remaining.
 
St. Scholastica then went cold from the field over the next four minutes, going 1-for-8 from the floor and missing a pair of front-ends of bonus free throws. That allowed Northwestern to take a 68-62 lead with two minutes to go.
 
The Saints got within three on two occasions in the final minute of regulation, but Northwestern's Will Gisler had an answer each time first with a jumper with 40 seconds left and then four free throws to seal the game in the final 20 seconds to give Northwestern the 76-69 victory.
 
Top Performances for CSS
Newman led all scorers with 23 points, grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and recorded three steals. Collin Anderson (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) had 10 points off the bench. Stark and Zach Dahlman (Braham, Minn./Braham HS) each added nine points.
 
Top Performances for the Opponent
Gisler had 21 points to pace the Eagles. Cody Sprenger had 13 points and Caleb Hageman added 11 points.
 
Up Next
The Saints (2-4, 1-1 UMAC) are back at home next weekend when it faces Finlandia University (Mich.) in a non-conference matchup on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and then takes on Northland College at 5 p.m. on Saturday. All of the action can be seen live on Saints Sports Net.