MLC topples Saints

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- The Martin Luther College men won their second straight game, shutting down Presentation College's outside game and combatting it with their own outside game for a 69-59 win Saturday.

Presentation came into the game at the top of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, leading the conference in 3-point shooting percentage and total offense. Senior guard Jason Lutz leads the UMAC in 3-pointers and total points.

"We know them pretty well ... we knew they like to shoot threes, so we wanted to shut them down outside," Dan Unke said. Unke was the game's top scorer with 22 points. "They got a lot inside, but I guess we took 'em out of what they like to do.

The Knights effectively shut Lutz down, allowing him nine points and just one 3-pointer.

And in fact, the teams' roles were reversed, as Presentation (12-3, 3-1) was just 6-for-18 on 3-pointers for 20 percent, while the Knights were 10-for-25 for 40 percent.

It was evident in the first minutes of the game that the Knights were on a mission. Five of MLC's first seven baskets were 3-pointers, and Jay Wendland hit five threes in the first half.

"Jay came out on fire, and when one guy comes out smoking, it gets everyone going," Unke said. "It helped us get going. It helped get the crowd into the game -- the crowd was great again tonight."

Wendland hit two straight from beyond the arc to get things charged up, then after Unke made an inside jumper, he again canned back-to-back threes to lead 14-7. Joel Schwartz bagged another one to go up 19-9 and force a Saints time out. Schwartz hit three 3-pointers for nine points in the game. Wendland and Justin Ohm hit two more 3-pointers to lead 33-19 halfway through the first half. The Knights maintained a sizeable lead to go into halftime 42-30.

Wendland ended the game with 15 points; Tom Engelbrecht scored 10 points and had six rebounds for MLC. Micah Walz had seven rebounds and three blocks.

Presentation crept up to trail 49-42 halfway through the second half after a 3-pointer by Cody Marzahn and a DeMarcus Terrell steal and basket. Marzahn led the Saints with 14 points; Terrell had 10.

The Saints also put more pressure on Wendland, but Unke was able to pick it up, with 16 points in the half. The Knights kept approximately a 10-point lead until the final 69-59.

Unke thinks that the win had more to do with confidence than any team being overrated or underrated.

"We squeaked out that one last night," Unke said. The Knights beat the University of Minnesota-Morris 66-63 Friday. "When you can go down to the wire and win, it gets everyone believing in each other. Hopefully we can keep it rolling the rest of the season."

"It feels awesome [to win two in a row]; I think we finally got it figured out," Unke said. "I think the rest of the season is going to go pretty well for us."

The Knights (3-12, 2-2) travel to face North Central Thursday.