ST. PAUL, Minn. – The North Central University Rams (10-4 UMAC) and University of Minnesota Morris Cougars (10-4 UMAC) won the 2024-25 UMAC Men’s Basketball Regular Season Championship on Saturday as co-champions. The UMAC regular season title is the first for both North Central and Minnesota Morris in their program’s histories.
Heading into the final day of the regular season on Saturday, four teams were tied for first in the UMAC men’s basketball standings with 9-4 records. By chance, North Central and Minnesota Morris were both scheduled to face one of the other two teams tied for first place, with the Rams against the Bethany Lutheran College Vikings and the Cougars against the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets, ensuring that the winner of those two games would clinch a share of the conference title.
North Central traveled to Mankato for their road game against the Vikings. The Rams opened the game with a 10-0 run through the opening three minutes. BLC rallied to tie the game at 20-20 with 8:43 remaining in the opening half. NCU answered with a 13-3 run to go up 33-23 with less than two minutes to go until the half, though the Vikings used the remaining time to cut the Rams’ lead down to just four points, leaving North Central with a 35-31 lead at the half.
In the second half, Bethany Lutheran rallied to take a one-point lead over North Central twice in the opening seven minutes of the quarter, but both times the Rams answered with a bucket on their ensuing possession to retake the lead. After BLC took a 55-54 lead with 13:36 to go, the Rams went on an 11-0 run over the next four minutes to take a 10-point lead up 65-55.
The Vikings managed to cut the Rams' lead as low as four points down 68-64 with 6:30 remaining, but NCU outscored Bethany Lutheran 18-8 the rest of the way as the Rams closed out an 86-72 victory to secure a share of the UMAC title.
At the same time, Minnesota Morris was hosting UW-Superior for their own regular season finale. The Cougars had a tremendous opening half, scoring 50 points on 62.9% shooting from the field while going 7-for-10 from three-point range. After taking a 10-8 lead in the opening four minutes, Minnesota Morris never gave the lead back the rest of the way. The Yellowjackets cut the Cougars lead down to three points midway through the opening half, but UMM went on to take a 13-point lead by halftime, up 50-37.
The Cougars continued their strong shooting in the second half, going 53.9% from the field while hitting 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Minnesota Morris pushed their lead up to 20 points in the first four minutes of the second half, up 61-41. UW-Superior fought back to get within eight points down 61-53 with 11:44 to go, but the Cougars continued to score. Minnesota Morris went on to lead by double-digits for the final ten minutes of the game, winning 89-72 to clinch their share of the UMAC championship.
The North Central Rams and Minnesota Morris Cougars will be the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds respectively in the UMAC Men's Basketball Tournament, which starts Wednesday, February 26 (semifinals) and concludes Saturday, March 1 (championship). The championship is a four-team tournament with each game hosted by the highest remaining seed. The tournament champion will receive the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the 2024-25 NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Championship.
The UMAC is an NCAA Division III member comprised of eight full-time member schools from Minnesota and Wisconsin: Bethany Lutheran College, Crown College, Martin Luther College, North Central University, Northland College, University of Minnesota Morris, University of Northwestern, and University of Wisconsin-Superior.