ST. PAUL, Minn. – In front of a packed Alumni Gymnasium, the Macalester College men's basketball team came up short against Carleton College, 74-70 in a game that featured the top two teams in the MIAC Saturday afternoon in the Leonard Center. The loss drops the Scots to 15-8 overall and 11-7 in conference play, while the Knights (20-3) remain in first place with a 15-3 MIAC record.

Carleton took control early, opening with a 15-5 run over the first five minutes of the game. The lead was nine, 18-9 when back-to-back layups by sophomore guard Robert Grace IV (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) and two baskets from sophomore forward Badou Ba (Dakar, Senegal/Williston Northampton) sparked an 8-0 run that made it a one-point game, 18-17 with 10:45 on the clock. The Knights pushed the lead up to five before three-pointers by sophomore guard Coby Gold (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) and first year forward Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) helped the Scots take their first lead since the first minute of the game, 29-28 with five minutes left in the half. The game was tied, 31-31 with 1:21 on the clock when Grace drained a three and Beck Page scored for Carleton to make the halftime score 34-33 Macalester.

Again Carleton started fast, with Matt Banovetz hitting a three and Jeremy Beckler making back-to-back threes for a 42-34 advantage early in the second half. Five points from junior guard Caleb Williams (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) ignited a 13-4 Scots run that put Macalester on top, 47-46 midway through the second half. With the game tied at 54-54, Carleton tallied eight straight points to lead, 62-54 with 5:47 remaining.

The Scots pulled to within three points twice over the next five minutes before a pair of free throws by Beckler gave the Knights a 70-65 lead with 22 seconds left. On the next possession, Beckler fouled Williams as he was shooting a three-pointer, then received a technical foul, giving Macalester five free throw attempts with 15 seconds to play. The Scots made 4-of-5, including three by Williams, to make it a one-point game, 70-69. Beckler was fouled and made two free throws, then Williams went to the line, making 1-of-2 to cut the deficit to 72-70. After two more free throws by Banovetz, a desperation three was off the mark, giving Carleton the win.

Macalester shot 36.8 percent from the floor for the game and made 11-of-17 (64.1 percent) from the charity stripe in the second half. Williams tallied a team-leading 28 points to go with seven rebounds and three steals. He is two points away from 1,000 career points. Gold added 11 points, six boards and three assists, while Ba grabbed a team-best 12 rebounds to go with six points and two steals. Grace and Shannon came off the bench to contribute 10 points apiece, with Grace registering four assists and three steals and Shannon blocking two shots. Beckler led all players with 29 points.

Before the game, the Scots honored their seniors: guard Ahad Anjum (Karachi, Pakistan/American School of Dubai) and managers Benjamin Maruggi and Joe Woldemichael.

Macalester plays at Saint John's on Wednesday, Feb. 15 in a game between two second-place teams. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in Collegeville, Minn.