ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Trailing by 15 early in the second half, Macalester would eventually close the gap to five points before St. Olaf pulled out a 68-58 win in both teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener.

The Oles led by 13 at halftime, thanks to a 56.5 percent shooting performance from the floor and, more importatnly a 10-for-13 effort at the freethrow line, where the Scots did not have an attempt in the opening 20 minutes.

The visitors quickly opened the lead to 42-27 with just under 18 minutes to play before Macalester began the first of two second-half rallies.

The first saw the Scots make up eight points of the deficit, getting to within 49-41 with six different players contributing points in the 14-7 run.

St. Olaf would get the lead back to 13 points, at 57-44, when Macalester went on a 12-4 to cut the lead to 61-56 with 1:52 to play. However, St. Olaf would make five of six free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

The Scots were 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the second half, shooting 47.6 percent from the floor, including making three of five three-point attempts.

Dylan Kilgour led Macalester with 15 points, hitting six of 10 field goals, including three of five three-pointers. Kareem Ismail added 12 points, going 6-for-6 at the line, while Kyle Bernhard came off the bench to contribute 11 points. Max Horvath, who also came off the bench, led the Scots with six rebounds.

Despite keeping up shooting percentages with the Oles, where the totals were close, turnovers proved to be the Scots' undoing, as they committed 15 compared to just seven for St. Olaf, which gave the Oles a 22-10 advantage in points off of turnovers.

Next up for the Scots is Saturday's game at Carleton. Macalester's first road game of the conference schedule is slated for a 3 p.m. tipoff.