St. Bonifacius, Minn. – A
Jacob Van Dam jumper with just under three seconds remaining was the difference in a tightly contested UMAC men's basketball game against rivals North Central University on Saturday night. The sophomore, who finished with a team high 17 points, hit four tough jumpers in the final five minutes as Crown won 73-72.
The Storm, who trailed by as many as eleven points in the first half and faced a 13 point deficit with just 9:58 remaining in the game have made a habit of erasing late deficits this season and used a 15-2 run after trailing 58-45 to tie the game at 60 with 4:56 remaining.
Alongside the big-time shots from Van Dam,
Micah Ladd hit a jumper in the paint and
Alec Testerman followed suit. With the game tied at 70 with just under 25 seconds remaining Ladd was fouled and hit one of two free throws to give Crown the lead.
After two more clutch free throws, this time from NCU's Justin Castro, gave the Rams a 72-71 lead with 12.5 seconds remaining, the Storm raced down the floor and got the ball to Van Dam who drove middle, spun back toward the baseline and hit a tough step-back, fade-away jumper over the outstretched hand of Tanner Holtman (who lead all scorer's with 20 points).
The jumper hit the rim four times and bounced off the backboard before dropping in, with time seeming to stop as the packed Wild Athletic Center held their collective breath.
A late full-court heave from Micah Filer was off the mark and the Crown benched poured onto the court to celebrate with the night's hero.
Van Dam was joined at 17 points by
Seth Royston who hit three three-point shots, collected eight rebounds, and added a pair of blocks.
Carter Behne, making his second consecutive start in place of the injured
Cade Carroll also hit double-figures, with a career high12 points on 5-6 shooting.
Ladd didn't reach the scoring heights of Friday night's game, but recorded ten assists for the second consecutive game with zero turnovers. As a team, the Storm had 17 assists with just six turnovers.
The win evens Crown's record at 5-5 on the season and 1-1 in UMAC play. The Storm will host nationally ranked UW-Lacrosse on December 18
th before taking a couple weeks off for Christmas break.
