ST. PAUL – Wednesday's Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) men's basketball tournament semifinal game was proof that it isn't over until the final buzzer sounds as Northwestern College (Minn.) outlasted the University of Minnesota Morris 83-80. The Cougars got two good looks at three-point baskets in the final 13 seconds, but Morris' misses gave the Eagles a berth in Saturday's tournament championship on their home court.

Northwestern actually didn't play its best half of basketball in Wednesday's first period as Minnesota Morris owned a nine-point, 47-38, lead with a strong edge in rebounding and turnovers. After some back and forth had the game tied at 11-11 after five minutes of play, the Cougars went on a 15-7 run to lead by eight at the 8:35 mark. Brendon Foss and his UMM teammates were finding holes in the Eagles defense under the hoop and the Cougars advantaged increased to double digits three minutes later on an and-one play by Logan Orazem. Foss nailed a three-pointer to give the visitors their biggest lead of the night at 37-23 before NWC's Ellis Libby (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) andWade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) strung together consecutive baskets to go into the locker room with a single digit deficit.

Lance Westberg (River Falls, Wis./River Falls), who was named the UMAC Player of the Week on Tuesday after consecutive games with 21 or more points last weekend, started Northwestern off on a good note to start the second round with a three-point jumper. Libby hopped on the bandwagon too, as his trey 36 seconds later had the Eagles within three points at 47-44. Northwestern had its first lead of the game by the 16 minute point of the period, an edge that stuck temporarily as Morris hit some jump shots to reclaim its advantage for just a short while longer. After the Cougars' RJ Dean made a pair of free throws, Northwestern caught fire midway through the 20-minute half. Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian)'s three-pointer gave NWC the lead for good before made baskets byCaleb Janson (Pierz, Minnesota/Pierz Healy) and Westberg had the Eagles up 64-56 with 10:47 to go. More made baskets ensued for the Purple and Gold, as Westberg's second three of the night put the NWC advantage into double digits.

As well as Northwestern seemed to be playing, Morris wasn't going home without a fight as the Eagles' 10 point margin was at zero within a span of four minutes as the clock ticked lower and lower. Wade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell)'s made jumper gave NWC a slight edge at 78-76, but the Cougars kept it a two possession – at minimum – game the rest of the way out, including having a chance to tie in the final seconds.

Northwestern came back to win the rebounding battle in the second half while going seven of 14 from downtown at the same time. The Eagles finished with a 51.6 percent shooting rate for the game, thanks much in part to Tom Gisler(Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville)'s eight makes on 13 attempts that produced 20 points. Gisler made four three-pointers for the third straight contest while maintaining his 49.6 clip for the season. Westberg and Chitwood also finished with 16 and 15 points. Libby, the fourth member of this year's senior class, scored seven points to go with eight boards and seven assists.

Just like their previous two games against the Eagles this season, Morris had four players score in double figures, with Foss leading the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds to complete the double-double.

Northwestern moves on to Saturday's UMAC finale, but not before celebrating its 20th win of the season, marking the third time that the quartet of Gisler, Westberg, Chitwood and Libby have helped meet that mark in their four-year careers. The Eagles (20-6) know their championship opponent -- Bethany Lutheran College – well as NWC and the Vikings stole wins on the others' home court during the regular season. The same two teams played in the same game, with a bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament on the line, last year in Mankato. This year's only difference is that the road to March Madness will go through the Ericksen Center with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.