DULUTH, Minn. – The University of Northwestern men's basketball team dropped its regular season finale, 76-69, at the College of St. Scholastica (18-7, 13-4) Saturday afternoon inside Reif Gymnasium. The Eagles finish the regular season with a 20-5 overall record and 12-4 mark in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play.

Northwestern locked up the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and will host the No. 3-seeded North Central Rams on Wednesday.

After an evenly played first half, the Eagles trailed by one (33-32) at the break. In a well-played second half, the Saints used a 5-0 run to increase their advantage to 12 (64-52). UNW battled its way back into the game and got within six at the 6:36 mark of the second half with a Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School) lay-up, but CSS went on a 6-0 run to stretch its lead to double-digits and never looked back to win the regular season conference title.

Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) followed up his season-high performance Friday night with a 17-point outing to lead UNW. Fellow senior Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School) scored 16 points, while Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) and Clay Elrod (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) chipped in eight apiece. Peter Maring (Harris, Minn./Cambridge Christian) pulled down a team-high seven boards and Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle) added three assists.

UNW shot 40.3 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from long range, while CSS finished the matinee shooting 48.2 percent from the floor.

This weekend marked the first time since the 2002-03 season in which the Eagles lost back-to-back conference games.

The Eagles will begin UMAC tournament play Wednesday night with their 5:30 p.m. contest with NCU inside the Ericksen Center. Fans can find more information on the upcoming tournament at www.unweagles.com.