ROSEVILLE, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team drained a season-high 19 three-pointers to defeat the University of Northwestern 90-72 in a non-conference game Tuesday night in the Ericksen Center. The victory kicked off 2024 for the Scots, who are now 6-5 on the season. The Eagles drop to 7-5.

A pair of three-pointers by junior guard Marcus Crawford (Edina, Minn./Edina) and five points from junior guard Caleb Williams (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) helped Macalester jump out to a 15-5 lead early in the first half. Northwestern answered with an 18-3 run to lead, 23-18 midway through the half. The Eagles pushed the lead to as many as nine points, 39-30, before the Scots closed out the half with a 13-2 spree to make the halftime score 43-41 Macalester. Williams hit two threes and junior guard Coby Gold (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) scored five points in the run. Gold led all players with 16 points in the first half.

The score remained close early in the second half. With Macalester clinging to a 50-49 edge at the 14:31 mark, the Scots made 6-of-8 from beyond the arc in an 18-9 run that put Macalester on top, 68-58 with 9:48 remaining. Williams hit three from deep in the run, with Gold and sophomores Eric Wentz (Minot, N.D./Minot) and Ryan Brush (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue) making the others. The bulge grew to as many as 23 points, as a sixth player, first year guard Kaden Holdbrook (Palo Alto, Calif./Gunn) made a three-pointer for an 85-62 advantage. The Scots shot 58.8 percent (10-of-17) from three-point range in the second half compared to 4-of-9 for the Eagles.

Overall, Macalester shot 50.0 percent from the field while also shooting 50.0 percent (19-of-38) from beyond the arc for the game. The Scots came up two three-pointers shy of the school record of 21, set in a 92-70 victory over Concordia on Jan. 3, 2007, almost exactly 17 years ago from today. Current head coach Abe Woldeslassie '08 made five of those three-pointers while registering 26 points and 10 assists in that game.

Williams tallied a game-high 31 points and hit six of his eight three-point attempts. He also added six rebounds and three assists. Gold drained seven threes and scored a career-high 28 points to go with five boards and three assists. Junior forward Armando Akapo-Nwagbo (Owerri, Nigeria/Pomona) grabbed 13 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass, to go with seven points. Junior guard Tom Andreae (Newton, Mass./Newton North) dished out six assists. Henry Fahnbulleh paced Northwestern with 21 points.

Macalester resumes MIAC play on Saturday, Jan. 6 with a game at Saint Mary's University. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. in Winona, Minn.