ST. PAUL – It wasn't easy, but the Northwestern College men's basketball team got the job done in an 87-83 victory over North Central University (Minn.) on Tuesday night in both teams' Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) opener in the Ericksen Center. #Lance Westberg# scored a career-high points in the win.

North Central found its niche real early in the game, not outside where top scorer Nathan Roeder roams, but instead in the paint, where the Rams were dominating the boards and getting their fair share of second chances. Backed by the efforts of Jordan Harrell and Bryace Burkman, NCU owned a 12-3 rebounding edge in the first five minutes to go with a 7-4 advantage on the scoreboard with 16:06 on the scoreboard. Northwestern recovered with #Ellis Libby#'s three-pointer to tie the game before Westberg and #Tom Gisler# found open looks under the hoop. #Steven Willey# got in on the action with a three-ball at 11:12 to put the Eagles up 21-17, but NWC couldn't get any wider of a gap against their opponent throughout the rest of the first half. A Burkman and-one play gave the edge back to North Central before Luke Chafin eventually broke a 35-35 tie to put the visitors up by two at halftime.

Westberg matched Chafin's bucket just 11 seconds into the second period as the senior quietly crept over the double digit plateu with a layup assisted by Libby at the 18:29 mark. Northwestern looked as if it was about to make a statement with Michael Carney's shot from downtown to give the Eagles a 48-43 buffer, but North Central cut the lead to one within 80 seconds on four straight points from the Rams' Clarke Mossman. Cue the Purple and Gold's #Wade Chitwood#, who had been silenced for most of the game thus far just seconds later, when the senior hit back-to-back buckets to put the margin back at six. Shortly thereafter, Westberg's jumper gave Northwestern its largest lead of the game at 59-51, but the Rams weren't finished yet, as Burkman led a charge that included a 6-0 run to tie the score at 62 points apiece. Fans had seen their 10^th tie of the game with six minutes to go at 70-70, but NWC went up for good with a big three-pointer from Westberg, who scored 21 points in the second half. Free throws from Libby and Chitwood did the rest of the job, and the Eagles had their first conference win of the 2012-2013 campaign in hand at 87-83.

Northwestern finished the game 32-69 from the floor (46.4 percent), making an even 50 percent of their 22 three-point attempts. North Central countered with a 32-for-75 mark (39 percent), making just three of 19 shots from long range, a 15.8 rate that was an improvement from the Ram's seven percent mark midway through the second half.

In addition to leading all players with 27 points, Westberg also brought down a Northwestern-best seven rebounds. Chitwood finished with 13 points, while Libby was one assist shy of a double-double as the senior went for 11 points, nine assists and five boards.

On the other side of the court, Harrell was one of two Rams (5-6, 0-1 UMAC) to nab a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Burkman added an impressive 21 and 13, going 10-13 shooting on the night. Roeder, who entered the night averaging 24 points per game, was held to just four points on 2-15 shooting. Libby was the primary defender on North Central's go-to shooter when he was in the game.

The win improves NWC to 8-4 (1-0 UMAC) on the year with two more games around the corner this weekend. The Eagles will continue their conference slate with home games against Martin Luther College and Bethany Lutheran College on Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (5 p.m.).