St. Bonifacius, Minn. – In a game that featured 15 lead changes and 14 ties, the Crown College men's basketball team made tough plays down the stretch and came away with a 72-68 victory over North Central in the semifinals of the UMAC conference tournament.  Crown advances to play top seeded Northwestern on Sunday for the conference championship, with tip set for 2 p.m.

The atmosphere in the Wild Athletic Center was electric as the two familiar rivals faced off for the third time this season.  You could see how much it mattered to both teams, who finished the regular season tied with matching 9-5 records in conference play, and the game started off with tightly contested shots refusing to go for either side.

A Jacob Van Dam three finally broke the seal on both baskets at the 17:13 mark and the score was just 4-4 after over five minutes of play.  Crown finally went on a bit of scoring run and achieved their largest lead of the night at 16-8, forcing an NCU timeout with 11:38 left in the first half. 

The Rams responded out of the stoppage, going on a 7-0 run of their own to pull to within a point before a Micah Ladd three pushed Crown's advantage back up to four. 

From that point on, neither team could get much separation, with the largest lead the rest of the half being just three points for either team.  An Alec Testerman running layup with less than two seconds remaining gave the home team a slim 36-34 advantage at the break. 

The back and forth nature of the game continued through the second half.  Crown built a seven point lead at the 17:18 mark, but a 10-0 run from North Central allowed them to reclaim the lead at 45-42 with 15:16 to play.

Crown held a slim advantage at 58-54 with 8:51 remaining, but another offensive surge from the talented North Central offense gave the Rams their biggest lead of the night at 63-58 with just under five minutes remaining. 

Everything was tough for both teams all night, but a deep Cade Carroll three started a sequence of extremely high level basketball from both teams with the score at 63-61. 
After the teams traded tough baskets and free throws to tie the score at 66-66, a clutch Ladd three, his fourth of the night, gave Crown a three point advantage. 
North Central's Justin Castro scored inside and was followed, but couldn't convert the three point play and Carroll hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to three with just 16 seconds remaining. 

Crown defended the three point line hard on the final possession and despite a couple of attempts the Rams weren't able to convert and Van Dam hit the first of two free throws to seal the game with less than a second remaining. 

Carroll led the Storm with 25 points, nine rebounds, and four assists and hit on four of seven three point shots and seven of eight free throws.  Ladd continued to show his big-game chops, scoring 19 points and hitting his four threes.  Van Dam also got to double-figures with 13 points.

The win pushes Crown's total on the season to 15, and a 16^th would see the Storm win their first ever men's basketball UMAC championship.  To do that, Crown will have to overcome familiar foe and perennial conference power Northwestern on their home court this Sunday.