DE PERE, Wis. – 19 turnovers led to a two-point loss for the Northwestern College (Minn.) men's basketball team against Marian University (Wis.) in the consolation game of the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament hosted by St. Norbert College. The Eagles had a considerably better shooting percentage and grabbed more rebounds than the Sabres, but a 22-5 deficit in second chance points and the mistakes cost NWC in the 71-69 final.

Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half, helping Northwestern lead by nine points before four minutes had ticked off the clock. With a Carney jump shot, the Eagles still held a 15-7 upper hand with 13:38 to go in the period, but Marian went on a 15-2 run over the next six minutes to claim a three-point edge. Carney made a two-point basket to put Northwestern up by a bucket before Sam Koslowski tied the game for the Sabres, sending the teams into the locker room with a 32-32 halftime score.

With the exception of a 37-37 tie, Marian never yielded its advantage in the second half, leading by as much as nine on Cody Velke's free throws with 14:16 to play. NWC chopped the Sabre lead to under five, cutting the advantage to just a point after Wade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) made a three-pointer midway through the period. Marian clung to its one- and two-possession leads down the stretch, even as Ellis Libby (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) and Chitwood continued to find success with their shots. Libby drained a three with two seconds left on the scoreboard, but the final two-point margin was as close as the Eagles were going to get at 71-69.

Northwestern finished 24-56 (43 percent) from the field, but the Eagles made just seven of their 24 attempts from downtown. Meanwhile, Marian countered with 22-66 (33 percent) and 5-15 in the same categories. While NWC owned a 43-38 edge in rebounding, the Sabres held an 18-10 buffer in points off turnovers.

Chitwood finished with a team-high 18 points, scoring an even nine points in each half. Libby and Carney each added 15, with Libby going for six assists in addition to a 6-8 performance at the charity stripe. Tom Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) had nine rebounds for Northwestern.

Koslowski was the game's leading scorer as he went for 20 points for Marian (5-7).

NWC slips to 7-4 overall with the loss and will gladly say goodbye to the 2012 portion of its season after leaving northeastern Wisconsin without a win in two tries. The Eagles will take a week off before returning to their home court to begin Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play against North Central University (Minn.) on Tuesday, Jan. 8. Tip-off for that game will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Ericksen Center.