ROSEVILLE, Minn. – Down by as many as 17 points, the Macalester College men's basketball team battled back to defeat the University of Northwestern, 85-79 Tuesday evening in the Ericksen Center. The non-conference road win gives the Scots a 3-2 record on the season, while the Eagles drop to 1-3.

In the first half, Northwestern took control with a 14-3 run that quickly put the hosts up by 13, 21-8 at the 13:37 mark. The lead grew to as many as 17 points before a pair of three-pointers by senior forward Ryan Brush (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue) and a basket from senior forward Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) brought Macalester within nine, 38-29. The Scots answered two baskets by Will Foster with threes from sophomore guard Joaquin Aguillon (San Rafael, Calif./The Branson School) and first year guard Noah Hamburge (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) to make it a seven-point game, 42-35 with 2:32 on the clock. With the lead still seven and time running down, Japheth Nyamari drained a three to put the Eagles on top, 49-39 at the break. Northwestern shot 55.3 percent from the field in the first half compared to 40.5 percent for Macalester.

Early in the second half, the Eagles extended their lead to 12 with two baskets by Nyamari sandwiched around a layup from first year forward Javier Diaz (Lake Oswego, Ore./Tualatin) for a 53-41 lead. From that point, Diaz scored eight points to spark a 16-4 Scots run that tied the score at 57-57 with 14 minutes to play. Shannon, who added six points in the run, gave Macalester its first lead since early in the game with a basket following a UNW free throw to make the score 59-58.

Over the next nine minutes the game went back and forth, with 10 lead changes and three ties. With Northwestern leading, 77-76 with 3:35 remaining, first year guard Owen Walther (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs School) buried a three-pointer to give the Scots the upper hand, 79-77. After a defensive stop, Shannon hit two free throws for an 81-77 edge. Jonah Burnett scored for the Eagles, only to have junior guard Kyle Jilla (Dallas, Texas/Plano West) restore Macalester's four-point lead with a layup at the 2:06 mark. The Scots' defense did the rest, holding Northwestern without a point down the stretch. Diaz capped his best night as a Scot with a basket with 13 seconds left, as Macalester left the Ericksen Center court with an 85-79 victory.

The Scots flipped the script in the second half, shooting a sizzling 67.9 percent from the field after halftime while limiting the Eagles to 35.3 percent.

Diaz made 9-of-10 from the field en route to a career-high 20 points, including 16 points after halftime. Shannon led all scorers with 22 points and recorded nine rebounds and four assists. Aguillon contributed 13 points and a career-high six assists, while Jilla registered his first career double-double with career highs of 11 points and 15 rebounds. Nyamari finished with 20 points to lead Northwestern.

Macalester heads to the Chicagoland area to take on Lake Forest College in a non-conference game on Saturday, Nov. 22. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. in Lake Forest, Ill.