St. Paul, MN – In front of a standing room only crowd inside the Ericksen Center on Sunday afternoon, Crown fell just short of a conference title by a score of 85-69.
The teams traded blows during the first 10 minutes or so before Northwestern went on a run to close out the first half and went into the locker room up 49-35. The difference in the first half was shot making, Northwestern shot a blistering 66% in the first half and was 50% from deep. Crown only shot 37% from the field and 30% from deep.
The second half saw a much more even result but unfortunately, with Crown being down 14 at halftime, trading baskets wasn't going to be enough. Crown was able to cut Northwestern's lead to 9 with about 16 minutes to go in the second half but that was as close as the Storm would get on Sunday afternoon.
The rest of the box score was very even, rebounds, assists, turnovers were all neck and neck. Northwestern was just very efficient offensively, getting quality shots at a high rate and making tough, contested jumpers on top of that, it was too much for Crown on this day.
Noah Alm was tough to contain for the Eagles, finishing with 28 points and 10 rebounds on 11-19 from the field. Kyle Kaemingk, Henry Fahnbulleh, and Caleb Hoilien all finished in double figures for the Eagles and all shot over 50% from the field.
Cade Carroll led the way for Crown with 19 points and 7 rebounds on 5-14 from the field and 7-9 from the charity stripe.
Micah Ladd,
Jacob Van Dam, and
Jacob Masek all scored in double figures for the Storm.
This isn't the end of the season for Crown however, they have been invited to participate in the NCCAA DII Tournament as an at-large team. The tournament begins on March 10
th and will take place in Joplin, Missouri.
This result doesn't take away from what has been a remarkable season for Crown. For the first time ever they hosted a UMAC Tournament Semifinal, and finished the regular season as the #2 overall seed in the UMAC Tournament. With quite a bit of experience and talent returning next season, the future is bright for this program.
