72
North Central (MN) NCU 15-16,9-5 UMAC
75
Winner Crown (MN) Crown 20-10,7-7 UMAC
North Central (MN) NCU
15-16,9-5 UMAC
72
Final
75
Crown (MN) Crown
20-10,7-7 UMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
North Central (MN) NCU 29 43 72
Crown (MN) Crown 35 40 75
MBB
Victoria Sanders

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Jared Gilmore - Assistant Athletic Director for Communications and Operations

Polars Crowned Champions at NCCAA DII Men's Basketball National Championship

Minneapolis, MN - The Polars Men's Basketball team battled with the North Central Rams on Saturday in the NCCAA DII National Championship and came out on top 75-72.

The Rams saw their first lead of the game come early on as they held a 6-2 lead after 4 minutes of play. Crown edged out in front and held the slight lead throughout the rest of the first half and after a late run the Polars led at half 35-29. With 6:35 remaining in the second half a three ball from the Rams tied the score up at 57-57.

North Central took the lead for the first time since the first four minutes of play with 4:27 remaining. This game went back and forth with 8 lead changes in the contest. With 1:17 to play Tyrus Buckner went to the line and knocked down two crucial free throws to tie the score at 68-68.

The dagger came from Cade Carroll as he drove down the lane and hit a tough basket fading away from the Rams defender to tie the game at 70-70 and drew a foul. Carroll converted on the three point play to take the 71-70 lead with just over 20 seconds to play. A missed shot from North Central was brought down by Carter Behne who immediately got fouled sending him to the free throw line where he converted on both moving the score to 73-70.

After a quick 2 from the Rams, Carroll went back to the charity stripe and stretched the lead to 75-72 with 3.4 seconds remaining. A final throw in from the Rams and a steal from Micah Ladd put it away as the Polars came out National Champions!

Buckner totaled 30 points in the contest on 10 made field goals and totaled 9 rebounds. Carroll followed up his record breaking performance with a 16 point effort. Carroll earned the tournament's most outstanding player and finishes his career 3rd in NCAA-era Crown history in career points with 1,421 points.

Jacob Masek and Micah Ladd both totaled 4 assists in the contest. As a team Crown shot 41.9% from the field going 26-62 and 31.6% from three point range going 6-19. The Polars went 17-20 from the free throw line as a team.

Crown finishes the season as NCCAA DII National Champions as they finish the 2023-24 season with a record of 20-10 overall and 7-7 in UMAC play.
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