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Buzzer-beater sinks Knights

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau MLC’s Ian Paulsen looks to score in the paint while Northland’s George Butvilas defends in Saturday’s UMAC basketball game at MLC in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — Despite the Martin Luther College men’s basketball team holding the lead for more than 32 minutes against Northland College on Saturday afternoon, Ryan Rawlings’ game-winning jumper gave the Lumberjacks a 75-74 victory over the Knights in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference action.

After Ian Paulsen’s spin move and bucket in the paint put the Knights ahead 74-73 with less than seven seconds to play, the Lumberjacks were forced to take one of their final two timeouts. Rawlings then took the inbounds pass up court and got an off-balance jump shot to fall as time expired, sending the Northland bench into a frenzy.

Rawlings played just over five minutes in the first half and had 3 points heading into halftime, but he finished the day with 17 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes. Jordan Brennan led the Lumberjacks with 19 points.

The Knights were led by Paulsen’s 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, while Ethan Eisenmann had 19 points. Also for MLC, Austin DeNoyer had 9 points and five rebounds.

Neither team had much of an advantage in the first half until the Knights pushed their lead to 37-26 after a 9-0 run late in the first half. Brennan hit a 3 with less than a minute to play in the half, but the Knights still took a 38-33 lead into halftime.

Eisenmann was dominant in the paint for the Knights early in the second half, scoring 8 of the first 11 MLC points in the half. The Knights continued to lead until Hunter Moe hit a 3-pointer with 7:11 left to play to tie the game at 64.

Brennan then knocked down a 3 on a fast break to give the Lumberjacks their first lead, 67-64, since early in the first half. The Knights took the lead back three more times after that before Rawlings’ final shot gave Northland the win.

The Knights outshot the Lumberjacks 52.4% to 43.5% and also had a 46-16 advantage on points in the paint. Northland hit 14 3-pointers to MLC’s three 3-pointers, however, proving to be a key in the end.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Lumberjacks (5-15, 2-9), while the loss was the Knights’ (4-15, 1-10) fourth in a row.

MLC hosts Crown College at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

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