ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half before battling back to down Carleton College, 87-72 in a MIAC game Wednesday evening in the Leonard Center. The win gives the Scots a 7-6 record on the season and improves their conference mark to 3-5. The Knights drop to 7-6, 4-4 MIAC.

Carleton opened the game by making eight of their first 12 field goal attempts over the first seven minutes of the game to build a 19-7 advantage. The lead grew to 18 points following back-to-back three-pointers by Sam Koelling and another three from Gabriel Cummings that put the Knights up, 29-11 midway through the first half. First year guard Kaden Holdbrook (Palo Alto, Calif./Gunn) scored five points and junior guard Coby Gold (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) added four points in an 11-5 run that cut the deficit to 12, 34-22 at the six-minute mark. After Carleton pushed the lead up to 14, Macalester went on a 16-6 run over the final four minutes of the half to make the halftime score 44-40 Knights. Junior guard Tom Andreae (Newton, Mass./Newton North) started the run with a three-pointer, and Gold and Holdbrook contributed four points apiece in the run.

The game remained close to start the second half, with Carleton eventually taking a 58-52 edge with 14:10 remaining. From that point Macalester took control of the game, reeling off 14 straight points in a 19-1 run for a commanding 71-59 lead. Junior guard Caleb Williams (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) scored nine points in the run, with Holdbrook and sophomore guard Eric Wentz (Minot, N.D./Minot) making threes. The Knights were able to come within seven points, 76-69 with 1:40 to play, but four points from Williams helped the Scots wrap up a key MIAC victory, 87-72.

Solid defense in the second half played a major role in Macalester's comeback, with junior guard Robert Grace IV (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) swiping a career-high five steals in eight minutes of action after halftime. The Scots held Carleton to 36.4 percent shooting from the field in the second half, including 0-of-6 from three-point range, while making 57.1 percent of their own field goal attempts after halftime.

Williams fueled the offense, scoring 22 of his game-high 31 points in the second half. Holdbrook finished with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor. Gold tallied a double-double with 19 points and a team-high 11 rebounds to go with three assists and two steals. Grace ended up with three points and two assists along with his five steals in his first action of the season. Koelling finished with 24 points to lead Carleton.

Macalester continues MIAC play on Saturday, Jan. 13 at Augsburg University. The game is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. start in Minneapolis, Minn.