ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team lost a MIAC game to St. Olaf College, 75-58 Saturday afternoon in the Leonard Center. The Scots fall to 7-16 overall and 4-10 in the conference, while the Oles improve to 3-20 overall and 2-12 in the MIAC.

In the first half, St. Olaf built an early 15-8 lead to gain the upper hand. With the score 26-21 Oles with 7:48 on the clock, St. Olaf used a 13-4 run over the next four minutes to extend its lead to 14, 39-25. A three-pointer by sophomore guard Kyle Jilla (Dallas, Texas/Plano West) and a basket from junior guard Eric Wentz (Minot, N.D./Minot) made the halftime score 39-30 Oles. St. Olaf scored 11 points on six Macalester turnovers in the first half.

Momentum returned to the visitors' side, as the Oles opened the second half with a 19-7 run for a commanding 58-37 advantage with 12:29 to play. The bulge was still 21, 64-43 when Wentz went off, hitting three three-pointers and scoring 11 points in a 13-4 Scots' run that made it a 12-point game, 68-56 with 5:12 remaining. But Macalester was unable to get any closer, as the Oles closed with a 7-2 run to wrap up the win, 75-58. The Scots committed just three turnovers after halftime but St. Olaf shot 48.3 percent from the field in the second half compared to 41.4 percent for Macalester.

Wentz tallied 24 of his game-high 33 points in the second half, hitting 5-of-7 from three-point range for the game. He was the only Scot to score in double-figures, as senior forward Armando Akapo-Nwagbo (Owerri, Nigeria/Pomona) grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds while scoring seven points. Senior guard Luke Moore (San Francisco, Calif./Stuart Hall) made a pair of threes, with junior forward Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) contributing six points, seven boards, two assists and a steal. Kobe Kirk scored 21 points to lead St. Olaf.

Before the game, the Scots honored their seniors Akapo-Nwagbo, Moore, Tom Andreae (Newton, Mass./Newton North), Badou Ba (Washington, D.C./Williston Northampton), Marcus Crawford (Edina, Min./Edina) and Robert Grace IV (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School).

Macalester plays its final home game of the season on Wednesday, Feb. 19, with Concordia College visiting the Leonard Center. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.