ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team lost a barnburner to the College of St. Scholastica, as the teams combined for 188 points in a 96-92 loss Wednesday evening in the Leonard Center. The conference defeat drops the Scots to 6-10 overall and 1-6 in league play, while the Saints improve to 5-10, 1-5 MIAC.

Macalester started out with the hot hand from deep, hitting 10 of its first 15 three-point attempts in building a 36-24 advantage with 9:14 on the clock. First year guard Owen Walther (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs School) was on fire, making six of those threes for the Scots, with first year guard Noah Hamburge (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) making a pair. St. Scholastica answered with 13 straight points to take the lead, 37-36 with 5:19 on the clock.

Walther broke Macalester's scoreless streak with yet another three, and first year forward Javier Diaz (Lake Oswego, Ore./Tualatin) banked a shot in for a 41-37 edge. After Davion Butler made a three for the Saints, sophomore guard Joaquin Aguillon (San Rafael, Calif./The Branson School) drained his second trey of the half to restore the four-point lead, 44-40. Near the end of the first half, four points from senior forward Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) put the Scots up, 48-43. Two free throws from Butler and a basket by Diaz made the halftime score 50-45 Macalester. The Scots shot 52.9 percent from the field in the half, including 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) from beyond the arc.

At the start of the second half, St. Scholastica opened with a conventional three-point play by Jayden Brown and a three-pointer from Carlos Johnson to take over the lead, 51-50. An and-one for Shannon followed by a basket from first year guard Lucas Myer (San Diego, Calif./The Bishop's School) put Macalester back on top, 55-51. The lead changed hands five times over the next five minutes, with a three from Nebiyu Teklemariam giving the Saints the upper hand, 66-65 with 12:20 remaining.

St. Scholastica extended its lead to as many as seven when a three-pointer by Butler made the score 78-71 with 9:04 left. Macalester did not give in, as a basket by Diaz sparked a 7-0 run that tied the score at 78-78 with 6:09 to play. Teklemariam stopped the run with a three and made it a five-point lead with a layup for an 83-78 edge. A pair of baskets by Shannon sparked an 8-4 run that made it a one-point game, 85-84 with 2:33 left. The Saints answered every Macalester basket over the next two minutes, and the difference remained at 1, 91-90 with 34 seconds left. A basket by Koy Nelson, followed by a Scots miss and a free throw from Brown, put St. Scholastica up four, 94-90 with 24 seconds to play. Shannon scored off an offensive rebound, but Brown hit both free throws to secure the win for the Saints.

St. Scholastica shot 64.5 percent from the field after halftime compared to 51.5 percent for Macalester. Shannon registered his fourth 30-point game of the season with 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field. He also had five rebounds and a career-high seven assists. Walther finished with a career-high 24 points and eight threes on 17 attempts. Hamburge made four three-pointers en route to 12 points, while Aguillon tallied 10 points, six boards and seven assists. Diaz matched Aguillon with a team-best six rebounds to go with eight points. Brown led the Saints with 20 points and five assists.

Next up for Macalester is a road MIAC game at Gustavus on Saturday, Jan. 17. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.