Box Score

ST. PAUL – A miserable first half left a sizable deficit for the University of Northwestern men's basketball team to overcome as St. Olaf College ran away with a rather easy 72-45 victory in the Ericksen Center. The Eagles were outscored 38-16 in the paint while also being doubled up in shooting percentage.

St. Olaf presented full court pressure and a rather large starting lineup that frustrated UNW from the onset. While Northwestern struggled to get a good look at the basket, the Oles built an early lead on layups and inside jumpers. The Purple focused much of its defensive attention on St. Olaf's Connor Gunderson, the visitors' leading scorer coming into Saturday night's contest, so point man Sterling Nielson made the most of his opportunities, pouring in 13 first half points. By the 20-minute mark, Northwestern had committed eight turnovers and made just seven of 26 attempts from the floor as the Eagles looked up at a 38-18 Oles lead.

UNW head coach came back with a different lineup to start the second period, giving Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle), Thomas Shephard (Crystal, N.D./Valley-Edinburg) and Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School) an opportunity to make a difference with double-digit minutes. The Eagles slowed the bleeding, but St. Olaf's lead continued to grow, hitting 27 points with 13:53 left to play. Northwestern never seemed to find a rhythm as the Oles' buffer maxed out at 30 before the horn sounded with UNW losing 72-45.

Nielson finished with 19 points to lead all players with Gunderson adding 13. Blake Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian)'s 10 points was the only individual double figures performance for Northwestern (2-3), who went a mere 15-55 (27.3 percent) from the floor. St. Olaf (3-2) finished the game with a 53.4 percent success rate in terms of shooting, committing just four turnovers.

The loss was Northwestern's worst (in terms of point differential) in just under 10 years, with the Eagles not having ended a game in the 40s since the same night in December 2003.

UNW will have a week to ponder Saturday's game until the next opportunity arises in one week when Northwestern heads south for another nonconference bout against Buena Vista on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 4 p.m.