NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team could not maintain a hot start in a 73-61 defeat to St. Olaf College on the road Wednesday evening in the Skoglund Center. The Scots fall to 7-9 overall and 3-8 in conference play, while the Oles move to 8-8, 7-4 MIAC.
Macalester was on fire from deep early, shooting 5-of-7 from three-point range to open up a 25-9 advantage over the first 9:24 of the game. Sophomore guard
Eric Wentz (Minot, N.D./Minot) hit a pair of threes, while junior guards
Coby Gold (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) and
Robert Grace IV (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) and first year guard
Kaden Holdbrook (Palo Alto, Calif./Gunn) made the others in the run. St. Olaf responded by holding the Scots without a three-pointer the rest of the half in a 23-6 spree that made the halftime score 32-31 Oles. Connor Martin had seven points in the run and 12 in the half, while Gold led Macalester with 11 first-half points.
Gold opened the second half with a three-pointer to put the Scots back on top, 34-32. After a pair of St. Olaf free throws and a basket by junior forward
Armando Akapo-Nwagbo (Owerri, Nigeria/Pomona) made the score 36-34 Macalester, the Oles registered an 18-4 run to take control of the game, 52-40 with 11:40 remaining. The lead grew to as many as 18 points, 62-44 before a three from junior guard
Tom Andreae (Newton, Mass./Newton North) started seven straight points for the Scots to cut the deficit to 11, 62-51 with five minutes left. But that's as close as Macalester would get, as the Oles earned a split in the season series with the 73-61 win.
St. Olaf held a 36-28 rebounding edge and scored 12 points off 12 offensive boards. Both teams took 18 three-point shots, with the Scots making seven and the Oles making five.
Gold led Macalester with 19 points while shooting 8-of-16 from the field. Wentz tallied 16 points and six rebounds, while Akapo-Nwagbo grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds. Martin led all scorers with 25 points.
The Scots host St. Scholastica on Saturday, Jan. 20 in a MIAC contest. The game starts at 3:00 p.m. in the Leonard Center.
