EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The University of Northwestern men's basketball team closed out 2017 with a hard-fought battle with St. Olaf College on day two of the UW-Eau Claire Holiday Tournament. The Eagles dropped the non-conference contest, 71-66, to the Oles. UNW falls to 2-9 on the year, while St. Olaf improves to 7-3.

Northwestern put together a strong opening half, jumping out to an early 8-0 lead before taking a 32-23 advantage into the locker room. The Oles chipped away at the UNW lead and tied the game at the 7:45 mark of the second half. After a back-and-forth finish, St. Olaf would go on to take the 71-66 victory.

Anderson Bazile Jr. (Houston, Tex./San Antonio Reagan) turned in his best performance of the season, as the junior poured in 25 points, including four 3-pointers to lead the Eagles on the offensive side of the ball. Tanner Youngberg (Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area) came up one rebound shy of a double-double after scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds, while Isaiah Rahier (Northome, Minn./Northome) cashed in a perfect 5-for-5 on free throw attempts en route to chipping in nine points..

UNW shot 37.9 percent from the field, while hitting 5-of-15 3-point attempts. The Eagles were strong at the charity stripe, finishing 17-for-19 (89.5 percent), while their bench outscored the Oles' bench, 33-14.

The Eagles will resume conference play Wednesday when Northland College visits the Ericksen Center for a 5:30 p.m. UMAC tilt. More information on the men's basketball program can be found at unweagles.com and by following @unwmbb on Twitter.