MINNEAPOLIS --- Crown Men's Basketball fell to the North Central Rams on Saturday 75-62 in both team's first conference game of the season.
Crown stalled at the gate in the contest, with only six points scored through ten minutes, and trailed 42-14 at halftime. However, signs of life appeared from the Crown as they found their groove in the early second-half, starting the period out with a 16-3 run and out-scored the Rams 48-33 in the second half (which quadrupled their first-half total). Fourteen Storm athletes played in the contest (five making Storm debuts) and Head Coach Luke Herbert looks to find new rotations for the team that graduated seven seniors the season.
Junior Seth Royston led the Storm in scoring with 14 points on 75% shooting from the field. Sophomore Alec Testerman joined Royston in double figures with eleven points in the contest and shooting 60% from beyond the arc off the bench. Junior Christian Moore led the team in both rebounds and assists once again with eleven boards and four dimes.
In junior transfer's Cade Neubert's first contest with the Storm, he scored eight points on 50% from the field. First-year's Micah Ladd and Dylan Gilmer, starting in their Storm debuts, scored seven and five points. First-year Quincy Wilson also started for the first time in the purple and white.
Also scoring for Crown were Cody Christenson (5 points), Jacob Van Dam (three points), Aaron Davis (two points), Micah Moan (two points), and Cole Andersen (two points). The sophomore Davis set a career-high rebounding total with six in the contest. Seniors Sawyer Lawhon and Brandon Pratt also recorded minutes in the game.
The Storm had a huge first-half/second-half shooting differential as they shot 17% in the first half and nearly 60% in the second, while North Central shot a reasonably consistent 48% in the contest. The differential was even starker when looking at Crown's three-point differential; the Storm were 0/13 from range in the first half and 6/10 in the second half (though Royston hit a jumper with his foot barely over the line late in the first). The Rams' shooting chart was all over the place as they shot a remarkable 42% from three but only 48% from the line.
The Storm now head to Bethany Lutheran on Thursday to take on the Bethany Lutheran Vikings, the reigning UMAC Champions. This contest will take place at 7 p.m. in Mankato, and due to BLC being a closed campus, they are not allowing visiting fans. The live stream link will be displayed on our schedule page closer to the date of the contest.
