ST. PAUL – The University of Northwestern couldn't hold on to its three-point halftime lead on Saturday and continues to look for its first victory of the 2014-2015 season following a 79-67 loss to the University of Dubuque. The Eagles, who entered the game with a 38 percent shooting rate in their first two games, appeared to break out of their slump in Saturday's first half, but the woes returned for the final 20 minutes while the Spartans countered with a shooting rate that was better than 50 percent.

Northwestern found itself down early as three-pointers from Andre Norris and Jacob Mohlis had Dubuque ahead 13-7 before four minutes had ticked off the clock. UNW went on a 10-4 run over the next five minutes, throttled by makes by Porter Morrell and Michael Carney. The Eagles' took advantage of some miscues on the Spartans' side, and more makes helped UNW's lead grow to 26-19 with 8:33 to play in the half. Within three minutes, Dubuque had evened the score at 28 points apiece, a near-zero margin between the two teams that would last until the final 60 seconds of the period when Will Gisler capped off a five-point spree before the Spartans' Lucas Ware made a layup with four seconds remaining to cut Northwestern's lead to 38-35 at the break.

The Eagles, who wore their home gold jerseys for the second straight night, had made half of their 24 attempts while going a blazing 5-7 from behind the three-point line. UNW was also winning the rebounding battle by a solid margin despite committing seven turnovers in the first 20 minutes of action.

The second half was a different story, as Dubuque's shooting improved by 12 percent while the Eagles made just 11 of 31 tries while the Spartans took control of the boards. Northwestern's lead was gone less than 30 seconds into the period and Dubuque never looked back from the 15:58 point on. Caleb Janson's jumper at 13:20 was UNW's lone field goal in more than a six-minute lapse while the visitors on the scoreboard turned a one-point Eagles advantage into a double-digit lead of their own.  Only once throughout the rest of the game did Northwestern cut the buffer to less than 10 points as a strong second half throttled Dubuque to a 15-point second half advantage and a 12-point difference overall.

Northwestern's overall shooting rate settled at 41.8 percent while a 2-10 performance from downtown in the second half had the Eagles at a nearly identical number for the game. Gisler paced the Eagles with 18 points on 7-18 shooting and Janson's 10-point, 14-rebound effort yielded a double-double, but the Spartans (4-0) matched UNW's number of four players in double figures for points scored, which included Gabe Heffernan's 19-point effort.

The Eagles' quest for their first win of the season will continue on Tuesday of next week, when Northwestern makes the short drive down Snelling Avenue for a 7:30 p.m. matchup against Macalester College before UNW heads to Colorado Springs, Colorado for a Thanksgiving weekend tournament.