Box Score DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – After a rough first half and great shooting by the University of Northwestern, the St Scholastica men's basketball team took home an 85-65 loss Friday night in the Reif.

The game started as an even battle in the first five minutes as the two teams battled back-and-forth. However, three CSS turnovers within just over one minute at the 14:36 marker let the Eagles take control.  The Eagle lead grew as high as 14 in the first half before Andrew Laughlin (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS) ended the half with a 3-pointer leaving Northwestern ahead 37-26.

The Saints struggled to pass the ball around against Northwestern's 2-3 zone defense and committed 11 turnovers for the half.  Scottie Rucks (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS) led the Saints with six points and was followed by Jake Naslund (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) and Tyler Rosenberger (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) with five apiece.  The Eagles were led by Matt Watnemo with eight and Porter Morrell with seven. 

The Saints fought to gain the momentum to catch up to the Eagles in the second half.  With every momentum change the Saints started to take, though, Northwestern answered with draining a shot. 

The Eagles (8-9, 5-1 UMAC) ended with an incredible 60 percent outside the 3-point line compared to the Saints at 41.7 percent for the half. The Saints also cleaned up their offensive play by cutting their turnovers to five, but still ended up falling short to Northwestern 85-65.

Rucks led the Saints for the game with 12 points and Laughlin chipped in nine of his own.  For Northwestern, Carney ended with 15 after a good second half and was followed by Matt Watnemo with 12.

The Saints (6-11, 3-3 UMAC) are in action again at 5 p.m. tomorrow against North Central University in the Reif Gymnasium. See the action live on Saints Sports Net