Box Score
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Northwestern College snapped a three-game losing streak with a solid 79-72 victory over Cornell College in the first round of the UW-Eau Claire Holiday Classic, advancing to Thursday's championship game. The Eagles had one of their best shooting performances of the season thus far behind a team effort that saw four players score in double figures.
NWC and Cornell each held leads in the first half, none of which were more than five points until a three-pointer from
Lance Westberg (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) gave the Eagles an eight-point edge 10 minutes into the game. A
Josh Williams (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) lay-up allowed Northwestern's lead to hit 10 with 3:18 to play in the first period before the Eagles led 47-39 at the break.
Cornell cut the Purple and Gold's advantage down to three points on a three-pointer by Alex Miller midway through the second period, but Northwestern regained its composure to boost its lead to seven and eight points throughout most of the rest of the half.
Nate Thompson (Fergus Falls, Minn./Hillcrest Lutheran Academy) (Fergus Falls, Minn./Hillcrest Lutheran Academy) came up big for NWC in the closing minutes, as his trey halted a Rams run that had minimized
Tim Grosz's team's lead to four.
Northwestern, which made 55 percent of its attempts overall, doubled-up Cornell in points in the paint 28-14 while owning a 32-26 advantage in total rebounds. The Eagles made nine of their 18 shots from long range, two of which came from both Thompson and
Tom Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville).
Brian Lecheler (Abbotsford, Wis./Abbotsford) (Abbotsford, Wis./Abbotsford) posted a team-best 14 points on 4-5 shooting to go with four rebounds and four assists. Thompson and
Wade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) each added 13 points, while Williams contributed 11 on 5-6 shooting.
Ryan Lott had 17 points to lead Cornell, who saw four of its seven players record double-digit points.
NWC, now an even 5-5 on the season, will rest for a matter of hours before returning to the Zorn Arena to take on UW-Eau Claire, who beat Monmouth University in the other bracket, in the holiday classic's finale. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
