New Ulm, Minn. – The Crown men's basketball team got off to a slow start after their loss at Bethany Lutheran on Friday night, but scored 48 second half points to dispatch a tough Martin Luther squad.  After trailing by two at the half, Crown outscored the Knights by 15 in the second half to earn their eighth conference win of the season. 

Trailing 35-33 at the half, Crown slowly but surely built a second half lead, using tough buckets in the paint from Jacob Van Dam, Cade Carroll, Alec Testerman, and Micah Ladd to get some breathing room on the road.  A 13-2 run, featuring nine points from the UMAC's leading scorer, Carroll, but Crown in the lead for good at 60-49.  Martin Luther wasn't able to get any closer than nine points the rest of the way, but also didn't allow Crown to blow the game wide-open.

Carroll led Crown with a tough 24 points on 8-17 shooting and an 8-10 mark at the free throw line.  Jacob Van Dam had 16 and Micah Ladd reached 13 points and five assists.
 
The five assists from Ladd give him 126 for the season as the sophomore captain eclipsed the previous single-season record of 124 set by Truman Shetler during the 2013-14 season.
 
The win puts Crown at 8-4 in the UMAC as the team occupies third place in the standings heading into the final weekend of the season.  Crown would need to win both games and have Bethany Lutheran lose both in order to get the two seed in the upcoming conference tournament, but do control their own destiny for keeping the three seed.  Crown will host Northland College for senior night next Friday and welcome UW-Superior for the regular season finale on Saturday.