MINNEAPOLIS --- Crown Men's Basketball won a gritty game against the North Central Rams on Saturday evening, with the game going back and forth until the end (17 total lead changes). With a little more than five minutes left in regulation, Crown took the lead and never looked back. At the end of it all, the Storm were on top, defeating the Rams 90-82. It was senior Keegan Oyugi that took the game by the horns, with nine straight points for the Storm with less than four minutes remaining. Oyugi ended the game with 21 points. 

"Coach trusted me, [and] my teammates have ultimate confidence in me," said Oyugi. "We really really wanted this win; we wanted to finish it out 3-0 before the semester [ends] and keep the hot streak going. We'll keep working." 

Along with Oyugi's 21 points, two other Crown players had at least 20 points in the game. Junior Timothy Wendel scored 23 points in the matchup, and sophomore Christian Moore scored 21. Moore had a double-double with eleven rebounds. This game was Moore's first double-double of the season and second of his career. Senior Josh Volness was the only other Crown athlete in double-figures. 

The Storm really stole the game on the fast break with 24 points coming in transition. (The Rams only had ten points in transition.) Both teams shot exactly 50.0% from the field, but Crown outshot NCU from three-point range, 36% to 31%. 

North Central was coming off a buzzer-beater loss to St. Scholastica and drop to 0-4 in UMAC games. The Storm remain in first place in the UMAC, and at 3-0 are the only team still undefeated in conference play. Crown heads home for the holiday break before coming back to prepare for their road trip to UW-Superior on January 2.