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Game Reaction: Aaron Reep

ST. PAUL -- Northwestern College certainly didn't have its best night shooting, but the Eagles found a way to head into the Thanksgiving break with a 70-58 win over Macalester College on Tuesday night.  NWC shot 34 percent from the floor, but sank nearly 45 percent of its three-point attempts to earn the victory.

It didn't take long to realize that the game would be physical and a tough battle.  Northwestern led by three after five minutes of play, but Macalester came back to tie the game on a jumper at 12-12 with 9:54 on the clock in the first half. After the Scots' Lamont Diggs made a layup to put his team up by two, NWC went on a 9-0 run that put the home team ahead 21-14.  Less than a minute later, Wade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) made one of his two threes in the game to increase the Eagles' lead to 10 before the Purple and Gold went into the locker room with a 29-21 halftime advantage.

Northwestern, who couldn't escape an 18 percent shooting mark for several minutes in the first half, came out and re-established its double-digit advantage. Chitwood hit a jumper 24 seconds into the period to make it 31-21 and his team followed as Tom Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) and Aaron Reep (Springfield, Ohio/Emmanuel Christian) made baskets to improve the lead to 39-23. Macalester made a late push, but the Scots never got closer than nine points down the stretch, and the Eagles won by 12.

Tim Grosz got 17 points from his bench, while Chitwood led the way with 18 points.  Aaron Reep (Springfield, Ohio/Emmanuel Christian) and Gisler both scored 13, with the senior falling one assist shy of a double-double at nine. 17 of Northwestern's 22 baskets earned assists on the night.

Pierce Peters carried the Scots on his back, scoring 20 points to go with 18 rebounds.  Justin Wasik added 12 points for Macalester, who finished with a 39 percent shooting rate. The Scots' go-to was inside the paint, where Macalester scored 26 points, compared to a dismal 2-of-20 from long range.

The win evens Northwestern's season record at 2-2 overall. After a few practices, the Eagles will welcome a solid University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse team to the Ericksen Center on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. before taking their show on the road to Wisconsin-Superior on Wednesday, Nov. 30.