Box Score

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The holiday tournament magic continued for Northwestern College, as the Eagles bested host-University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 69-58 in the championship game of the UW-Eau Claire Holiday Classic.  NWC has won two straight holiday tournaments after sparking its 15-game winning streak last season at St. Norbert's winter event.

Northwestern scored the first four points of the game and never looked back as fans in attendance witnessed just one tie before the Eagles built an 11-point lead towards the end of the game.  After Eau Claire's Ivan Franklin locked the score at 6-6, NWC went on a 7-0 run that was capped off by a three-pointer from Nate Thompson (Fergus Falls, Minn./Hillcrest Lutheran Academy) (Fergus Falls, Minn./Hillcrest Lutheran Academy).  Head coach Tim Grosz's squad extended its lead to double digits when Wade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) made a jumper in the paint to push the score to 30-20 with five minutes left in the first half.

After a four-point halftime lead went the Eagles' way, Northwestern immediately built on the advantage with long-range baskets from Tom Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) and Gabe Jefferson (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast) (Lincoln, Neb./Southeast).  The Blugolds' Dustin Kalien hit a three-pointer with 8:38 to go to put his team within four before Marcus Ruh's free throw cut NWC's lead to three.  Chitwood answered with a three of his own on the Eagles' next possession before draining back-to-back shots from the charity stripe to solidify Northwestern's 11-point victory.

For the second straight night, the Purple and Gold had four players in double figures.  Chitwood finished with 14 points on 5-10 shooting, followed by Thompson and Gisler's 11 points apiece. Jefferson rounded out the Eagles' scoring with 10 points.  13 of NWC's points came from an offensive rebound.  As a team, the Eagles out-rebounded their opponents 34-27.

Chitwood was named the tournament's most valuable player, while Thompson was credited with all-tournament team honors.  Other Northwestern players to win specific accolades included Brian Lecheler (Abbotsford, Wis./Abbotsford) (Abbotsford, Wis./Abbotsford) (Hustle Award) and Lance Westberg (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) (River Falls, WIs./River Falls) (Fireman Award (Non-Starter)).

Amadou Fofana, who also earned a spot on the all-tournament team, posted 17 points to lead UW-Eau Claire, who shot 42 percent from the floor in the game.

Northwestern returned to a winning record with the victory and now stand at 6-5 overall, while Eau Claire slips to 6-4.  The Eagles have almost as long of a break ahead of them as they did over Christmas when the team didn't play a game for 13 days.  NWC will next suit up on Tuesday, Jan. 11 to host Crown College in both teams' UMAC-opener.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Ericksen Center.