Ashland, Wis. - Coming off a tough 81-78 loss to Finlandia last night, Crown was looking to close out Saturday's game against Northland College much better. Northland came into this afternoon's game as winners of 7 of their last 9 games as one of the hotter teams in the UMAC. The Lumberjacks showed why that was in the first half.  Crown found themselves down by 14 at halftime as Josh Volness kept Crown within striking distance scoring 16 points with four threes in the first half.  Meanwhile, Northland shot 63% from the floor and 58% from behind the arc in that same half.

Austin VanDerHeyden and James Brown picked up the scoring load in the second half and willed Crown back into the game. Crown's defense also clamped down on the Lumberjacks in the second half managing to get just enough stops when needed. At the six minute mark in the second half, Crown embarked on a 15-4 run to take the lead at 78-77. Both teams traded some free throws, but also missed key free throws down the stretch as regulation ended 82-82.

In overtime the overtime period, Crown got two huge threes from Tom Messner and held on outscoring the Lumberjacks 8-6 in overtime for a 90-88 win.

Volness led Crown with 24 points including five threes.  VanDerHeyden poured in 23 points and 11 rebounds while Brown and Messner both reached double figures with 15 and 12 respectively.

Crown's next game is in Rochester against Crossroads College on Tuesday.

Story by Ben Brecht