Men’s Basketball Claims Region Title  (3/8/08)
The Trolls became the NCCAA North Central Region Champions with a 76-52 win over Northwestern College (MN) in the region final. As the region champs the team will advance to the NCCAA National Tournament held on March 18-20 at Oakland City University (IN).
 
With an outstanding second half effort the Trolls turned a three-point deficit into a 24 point win. Offensively in that period they picked up their efforts to shoot 56.3% from the floor, including 6 of 11 from behind the arc. A huge offensive burst came from Kurt Gruppen who scored 25 points in the half, connecting on five three-pointers. They also got the job done defensively as they held Northwestern to just 16.1% shooting and 18 points.   
 
The first half of the game was a different story as Northwestern took the lead. The Eagles had climbed to a nine point led with seven minutes to play in the half. The Trolls slowly made a run and pulled to within one point. By the half they trailed by three, 31-34.
 
In the first seven minutes of the second period the Trolls had not only closed the gap, but pulled out front by 11 points as they out-scored Northwestern 15 to 1. With an 11-point lead at the midway mark the Trolls held Northwestern to just six points over the next nine minutes. In that same stretch the Trolls rallied behind four treys by Kurt Gruppen to add 24 points of their own and post the largest lead in the game at 29 points.
 
For the game the team ended with a .492 field goal percentage. They were 9 for 21 overall from three point land. Kurt Gruppen had 33 points and Ross Stuursma had 13. Ebiowei Porbeni posted nine points and seven rebounds while Michael Thompson had seven boards and seven assists. Jonathan Huizinga and Kyle Lasek were the top rebounders with eight each.
 
The seeding and pairings for the NCCAA national tournament will be released at a later date.

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