NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team held a narrow second-half lead but could not hold off Carleton College in an 86-78 defeat Wednesday evening at West Gym. The Scots are now 5-6 overall and 0-3 in the conference, while the Knights improve to 5-2, 3-0 MIAC. First year guard Jamal Randle (St. Paul, Minn./Great River School) came off the bench to provide a team-best 21 points in 19 minutes.

Carleton took control early by scoring the first 13 points over the first 3:50 before senior forward Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) scored for Macalester. After a three from Sam Koelling pushed the lead to 16-2, a pair of three-pointers by Randle and baskets from Shannon and senior forward Ryan Brush (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue) brought the Scots to within four, 16-12.

Another three from Randle followed two Knights' free throws to make it a three-point game, 18-15 with 11:25 left in the half. Carleton increased its lead to as many as nine and led, 35-27 when a three from first year guard Noah Hamburge (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) sparked a 15-4 run to close the half and give the Scots a 42-39 halftime lead. Randle, who hit three more threes in the run, finished the half with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from three-point range.

As they did at the beginning of the game, the Knights started the second half on fire with eight straight points to regain the lead, 47-42 three minutes into the half. Junior guard Kyle Jilla (Dallas, Texas/Plano West) tallied Macalester's first points of the half, then answered a Carleton three with one of his own to make the score 50-47 Knights. Randle made a free throw to bring the Scots to within two, only to have Carleton stretch the lead to 51-57 with 12:43 remaining. Brush drained a pair of threes sandwiched around a Tobias Averill three to cut the deficit to three, 60-57. After George Norsman scored for the Knights, sophomore guard Joaquin Aguillon (San Rafael, Calif./The Branson School) hit another three for the Scots to make it a two-point game, 62-60 midway through the half.

Following two Carleton free throws, first year guard Lucas Myer (San Diego, Calif./The Bishop's School) made a three and stole the ball that led to a layup by Shannon for a 65-64 advantage with nine minutes to play. Later in the half, a basket by Myer put the Scots up 68-66 at the 7:26 mark. The Knights regained the lead by scoring the next seven points, then first year guard Owen Walther (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs School) hit a three-pointer to make it a two-point game, 73-71 with 4:07 left. From that point, a 10-2 Carleton run gave the Knights an 83-73 edge, and Macalester never came closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Carleton outscored the Scots 44-22 in the paint and had a 38-28 rebounding advantage. Randle finished with a career-high 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting from deep to go with four steals in 19 minutes off the bench to help the Macalester bench take a 43-7 advantage in bench points. Shannon finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals, while Walther had nine points in 20 minutes off the bench. Jilla matched Shannon with seven rebounds and added six points. Koelling tallied 21 points and 10 boards to pace Carleton.

Macalester returns to action after the new year, with a non-conference game at home against UW-Superior. The game starts at 4:00 p.m. in the Leonard Center.

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