St. Bonifacius, MN - The Polars Men's Basketball team took on the Dakota State Trojans on Saturday and fell 69-59.

Crown took the initial lead as they took a 7-5 lead in the first 5 minutes of play. Dakota State answered right back and kept a close lead for the majority of the first half. The Trojans stretched the lead to eight multiple times in the half. A couple of made triples in the final minute put Dakota State out in front 40-27 at the break. 

The second half saw Crown slowly inch back into the contest and trimmed the lead to just three points after three straight buckets from Cade Carroll and a made three from Jacob Van Dam with 13:51 left to play. The Trojans continued to hold the lead answering right back time and time again in the late goings. With just 4:31 to play a bucket from Tyrus Buckner evened things up at 59-59. A few buckets from Dakota St. shut the door on the Polars as Crown struggled to find a bucket down the stretch and the final score read 69-59 in the Trojans favor.

Crown struggled shooting on the evening as they combined for 24 made baskets in 70 attempts and a team shooting percentage of 34.3%. The struggles also carried over into the Polars three point shooting as Crown only knocked down 3 triples on 21 attempts good for 14.3%.

Elijah Morris turned in a career best 13 points as he led the Crown scorers. Cade Carroll totaled 10 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double. Micah Ladd totaled 9 assists in the contest.

Crown falls to 5-3 on the season and will next head up north to Superior, Wisconsin to take on UW-Superior at 7:15pm Friday, December 8th for the UMAC opener. The Yellowjackets are currently receiving votes for the top 25 as ranked by d3hoops.com as of November 26th.