COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Northwestern lost its first contest in the two-day Colorado College Thanksgiving Classic as the host-Tigers used a second half run to win 70-61. The Eagles will finish their time in Colorado with a 5 p.m. (MT) game against Willamette University.

Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) gave Northwestern a boost right off the bat, making a trio of consecutive three-point baskets in the initial 5:30 to keep the Eagles within two of Colorado College at 11-9. A Matt Watnemo (Moorhead, Minnesota/Moorhead High School) jumper at the 12:55 mark gave UNW its first lead of the game before Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle) found Daniel Petkau (Rib Lake, Wis./Rib Lake) in the paint for a layup that put Northwestern ahead 15-12. The Tigers' Ryan Young claimed the lead back for his team on a close basket at 19-18, but back-to-back baskets by Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) and Caleb Janson (Pierz, Minnesota/Pierz Healy) had UNW in front again, 23-21, as neither team could widen the gap beyond three points. Janson drained a pair of free throws in the final two minutes to keep UNW ahead, but Eric Houska's layup with 40 seconds to go in the half gave Colorado College a one-point buffer at halftime.

Tyler Jonas and Chris Lesnansky hit a pair of long range jumpers in the opening minutes of the second period to give the Tiers their largest lead of the night – seven – at that point of the game. Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) hit a couple treys of his own to keep Northwestern within range of Colorado College at 38-33, but Jonas answered right back with a three-ball of his own before Russel Clark's layup had the Tigers ahead by 10 on their home court with 14:20 to go. Carney and Morrell each responded with three-point makes to make it a 43-39 ball game before Thomas Shephard (Crystal, N.D./Valley-Edinburg) added his own pair of back-to-back threes to even the score at 45 points apiece as the clock approached the midway point of the half. Colorado College had the lead back to five within a minute, but again the Eagles came right back, with Carney's fifth trey of the day tying it at 50-50. The Tigers answered with a 7-0 run that would prove to be the difference-maker as UNW wasn't able to get any closer than five in what turned out to be a nine-point deficit at the buzzer.

Northwestern's 44.9 percent rate matched the Eagles' first game of the season for their top shooting rate of the 2014-2015 campaign thus far with UNW's 13-29 performance from behind the three-point line (44.8 percent) easily being tops in the team's five games. Northwestern out-rebounded its opponent 35-27, but Colorado College made 17 of its 29 second half attempts, which helped the Tigers as they took advantage of 19 Eagles turnovers. On the other end of the court, Colorado College had just six blunders on the night.

UNW was fortunate to have success from outside the three-point arc, as Colorado College scored 44 points in the paint compared to just 12 for Northwestern.

Carney finished 6-12 from long range and 8-15 overall for a 22-point effort. Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School) pulled down a Northwestern-best eight rebounds while dishing out five assists from his post position. Both Jonas and Lesnansky had 16 points to pace the Tigers.

The Eagles, now 1-4 on the year, will return to the Reid Arena in Colorado Springs on Saturday to face a Willamette squad that lost to the University of Dubuque earlier on Friday in an 83-60 final score. Like Northwestern, the Bearcats are in search of their second win of the season. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. MST.