St. Bonifacius, Minn. - The Polars men's basketball team faced off with the University of Northwestern St. Paul on Saturday and came out on top 94-91.

A hot start from Crown saw the Polars up 9-2 after three point baskets from John Grigsby and Carter Behne. The Polars held a slim lead throughout the half never leading by more than seven points. With 5:23 left in the half the Eagles cut the Crown lead to just 2 points, but the Polars answered closing the half on a 16-9 run holding the 47-38 lead at the break.

The Polars were able to jump out to a seventeen point lead with the score sitting at 88-71 with 6:26 to play. From that point the Eagles defense held Crown scoreless for over five minutes as Northwestern managing to claw their way back into the contest. Crown led by one point with 1:22 to go and a clutch three point basket from Rayquan Moore stretched the lead back to four points with under a minute to go. The Eagles answered right back after three free throws. With 22 seconds on the clock and the score tied at 91-91 the Polars found Parker Behne off a quick rotation and after a pump fake Behne drilled the three point basket giving Crown the 94-91 lead with 0.8 seconds remaining. A late shot from the Eagles didn't go and the Polars came out victorious.

Tyrus Buckner score 21 points leading the Crown offense. Four Polars scored double digits as Rayquan Moore scored 19 points, John Grigsby scored 17, and Carter Behne scored 16. Grigsby led the Polars on the boards with 12 rebounds. Micah Ladd tallied 8 assists in the game. As a team the Polars shot an impressive 50.7% from the field going 34-67 and 53.6% from three point range going 15-28. 

Crown moves to 10-7 on the season and 3-3 in UMAC play after taking down the UMAC leading Eagles. The Polars return home next Wednesday, January 29th to take on UW-Superior at 5:30pm. Read Full Article