Information courtesy of MLC Athletics

Men’s basketball

UNW 79, MLC 73

NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College men’s basketball team was unable to pull off the upset of Northwestern-St. Paul in a hard fought 79-73 defeat on Saturday.

The Knights battled UNW to a 31-31 tie at the half after holding the Eagles to just 28.6 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes.

MLC led by as many as 7 points in the second half, and pushed the lead back to 6 (55-49) following a Jared Witkowiak 3-pointer with 9:52 to play in the game, but UNW outscored the Knights 16-4 over the next four minutes to take a 6-point lead of their own with 5:50 to play.

Austin DeNoyer’s layup with 35 seconds remaining cut the deficit to only two points, but that was as close as the Knights could get in the final minute as the Eagles went 4-4 from the free throw line to put the game away.

Ian Paulsen was dominant on the glass throughout the game and finished with a game-high 16 rebounds to go with 15 points. DeNoyer led the Knights with 18 points off the bench, while Witkowiak (11 points) and Jack Heichelbech (10) joined them in double figures.

MLC fell to 1-4 on the season and 0-2 in UMAC play in defeat. UNW improved to 5-4 overall and 2-0 in league play with the win.

Women’s basketball

UNW 75, MLC 52

NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College women’s basketball team lost 75-52 to Northwestern-St. Paul on Saturday.

The Eagles were strong on the defensive end throughout the game, holding the Knights to 31.1 percent from the field and forcing 21 MLC turnovers that led to 14 points on the other end.

On the offensive end, the Eagles scored both inside and outside, out-scoring MLC 34-24 in the paint while shooting 9-27 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Emily Witkowski led MLC with 15 points, while Kortney Behnke added a career-best 12 points on 5-6 shooting from the field.

Kati Aguilar led the Knights with 13 rebounds to go with three assists.

MLC fell to 0-9 this season and 0-2 in UMAC play in defeat. UNW improved to 4-5 overall and 2-0 in league play with the win.