DE PERE, Wis. – University of Northwestern Men's Basketball took on St. Olaf College in the championship game of the four-team Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament on Friday night, hosted by St. Norbert College. The Eagles fell 79-77 to the Oles in the final seconds of the game.
 
The opening half saw UNW take a 43-36 lead. Caleb Hoilien (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) was stellar, scoring 22 points on a perfect 10-of-10 from the floor for the Eagles to match his previous single-game career high in just the first half. Northwestern shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half, though the Oles 48.3 shooting percentage from the floor and 6-of-13 mark from beyond the arc kept them within range of the Eagles.
 
St. Olaf rallied in the second half to take a 47-45 lead with over 15 minutes remaining in regulation. The Oles went up by as many as six points with a 57-51 lead midway through the half, but UNW retook the lead with a Jeremiah Lavelle (Otsego, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) three-pointer to go up 62-61 with just over eight minutes remaining. The Eagles pushed their lead up to six points leading 71-65 with 4:34 remaining, but St. Olaf kept pace and started to cut Northwestern's lead down.
 
With 31 seconds left, the Oles made a free-throw to tie the game up at 77-77. After a missed shot by the Eagles, St. Olaf got the ball back and called timeout. After the break, the Oles inbounded the ball and drove for a game-winning layup with four seconds remaining.
 
Hoilien scored a career-high 30 points for the Eagles on 13-of-17 shooting and added six rebounds. Henry Fahnbulleh (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) had a 22-point, 10-rebound double-double for Northwestern, shooting 11-of-16 from the floor.
 
Up next, Northwestern will return to the Ericksen Center in 2023 for a conference home game against North Central University on Saturday, January 7, at 3:00 P.M.