NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Men's Basketball team traveled to St. Olaf College on Saturday, hungry for its second win of the season after a Tuesday loss to Macalester that the team felt got away from it. The Eagles and Oles proved to be two very evenly-matched squads, playing a tight contest that wound up going to overtime. The hosts dominated the extra period and prevailed with an 85-75 win.
Despite what turned out to be a tough shooting day at 33%,
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) scored UNW's first four points. A pair of
Will Foster (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) buckets tied the game at eight, but St. Olaf scored the next six points before
AJ Greene (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) got on the board with a jumper. Northwestern put together an 8-0 run which included three-pointers from big men
Jonah Burnett (Orr, Minn./North Woods) and
Ben Tschida (Andover, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) to pull within a point at 24-23, and again got within one after back-to-back layups from
Jacob Hoefs (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) and
Isaac Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy). Nyamari started to find his groove in the final five minutes, scoring seven of UNW's final nine points to make it 43-40, Oles, at halftime.
St. Olaf came out of the break on fire, scoring the half's first six points before Aune knocked down a three. The Eagles' forwards continued to supplement the offense, as a Burnett triple and layups from Aune and Tschida kept Northwestern within four. Nyamari began to heat up again with 8:33 left, going on a personal, 6-0 run to tie the game at 57, then a Burnett layup and back-to-back buckets from Greene gave UNW its first lead of the game with 4:02 left to play at 63-62. Olaf and Nyamari traded threes to keep the margin at one, then the Oles edged in front with 27 seconds left on a layup. Burnett drew a foul inside on the other end and calmly sunk both free throws with 14 seconds remaining to put the Eagles back on top, 68-67, meaning one more stop would put the visitors in great shape. Northwestern forced a missed shot, but gave up an offensive rebound and fouled to put St. Olaf at the free throw line with a chance to tie or take the lead. The shooter made one of his two attempts, sending the game into overtime.
The extra period was dominated by the Oles, who scored 13 of the first 15 points of the frame. A Burnett three-pointer got UNW within single digits with 42 seconds on the clock, but it was too late to make a difference as St. Olaf held on for an 85-75 win.
Nyamari led the Eagles in points (20), rebounds (7) and steals (2), while Burnett had a great game with a career-high 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks, including a 3-5 effort from deep. Foster put up 11 points, six assists and five boards, and Greene finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. Tschida chipped in five rebounds in his return to the starting lineup.
Northwestern will be back in the Ericksen Center Tuesday, November 25
th to host St. Scholastica. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 PM.
