ST. PAUL, Minn. – University of Northwestern Men's Basketball hosted Carleton College on Tuesday night in the Ericksen Center for a non-conference contest. The Eagles and Knights battled neck-and-neck in the opening half, but Carleton pulled away in the second half with a remarkable shooting night to defeat UNW 85-70.
 
The Eagles went ahead on the Knights early in the game, taking a 10-5 lead in the opening five minutes. Carleton rallied to take a 13-10 lead. Northwestern would retake the lead 23-22 with seven minutes remaining in the first half. The Knights retook the lead with a layup, but Henry Fahnbulleh (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) put UNW back up 25-24 with a massive fastbreak dunk off a steal.
 
With 4:15 remaining before halftime, the Knights hit a three-pointer to go up 29-27; the last lead change of the game. Carleton went up by six in the closing minutes, but a Micah Pocernich (Cromwell, Minn./Cromwell-Wright) three-pointer would cut the Eagles deficit in half before halftime. The two teams entered the break with UNW trailing 37-34.
 
In the second half, the Knights broke away by going 18-for-32 from the floor for a 56.6 percent clip. Carleton's three-point shooting was remarkable as the Knights shot 52.9 percent, hitting 9-of-17 shots from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes. The strong second-half shooting led to UNW falling 85-70, with Carleton improving to 8-1 on the year.
 
Caleb Hoilien (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) and Pocernich led the Eagles with 16 points each. Hoilien shot 8-for-15 with a team-high four assists and Pocernich made 7-of-13. Fahnbulleh had a team-high nine rebounds and 14 points on 7-of-13 shooting.
 
Up next, Northwestern will travel to Iowa to take on the University of Dubuque Spartans on Saturday, December 17, at 3:00 P.M. The Eagles will return to the Ericksen Center in 2023 on January 7 for a conference home game against North Central.