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ERIE, Penn.-The College of Saint Rose rallied from a five point deficit in the final minute only to fall 71-69 to Northern Michigan in tonight's opening round of the 34th Annual Gary Miller Classic on the Gannon University campus.
 
Junior guard Shane Herrity scored inside to cut the Golden Knights (5-2) deficit to three with 1:02 remaining. The Wildcats then turned the ball over and senior forward Jack Jones took advantage by taking a feed from sophomore guard Michael Wearne and drilling a 3-pointer that tied the game for the sixth time, 69-69, with 49 seconds to go.
 
Jones then came up with a block on the other end, but Northern Michigan (3-2) grabbed three offensive rebounds with junior forward Isaiah Johnson accounting for final one with a tip-in of his own miss with nine seconds to go. Saint Rose had one final look, but couldn't get it to go as the final buzzer sounded.
 
"Our guys played hard tonight. We just didn't come up with the 50-50 balls in crucial moments. We have to continue to get tougher and work harder on the glass," said assistant coach Mike Perno.
 
Northern Michigan scored the game's first nine points and built its biggest lead of the evening, 22-12, after junior guard Naba Echols hit a trey with 8:35 remaining until intermission. However, the Golden Knights outscored the Wildcats 22-10 by holding them to three field goals from that point forward to take a 34-32 halftime lead.
 
Northern Michigan then took off on a 20-9 run early in the second stanza that transformed a 39-34 deficit into a 54-48 advantage with 11:19 left. Saint Rose clawed back to within one after senior guard Anthony Russell buried a 3-pointer, but the Wildcats countered with six unanswered points to boost their advantage to seven, 65-58, with 3:28 remaining. Herrity canned a 3-pointer a minute later that made it a one possession affair to set up the wild finish.
 
Herrity, Jones, and junior forward Matt Cerutti finished with 12 points each and senior forward Julian Lipinski wound up with 10 for the Golden Knights. Wearne handed out five assists and also came up with five rebounds.
 
Meanwhile, Johnson scored a game-high 18 and sophomore forward Will Carius registered a "double-double" behind 12 points and 10 rebounds for Northern Michigan.
 
Saint Rose will now take on West Virginia Wesleyan in tomorrow's consolation game. Tip-off is set for 5:30 pm.

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