DE PERE, Wis. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team made a season-high 13 three-pointers to ease to a 78-45 victory over UW-Stout and advance to the championship game of the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament on Thursday evening at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

In its first-ever appearance at the annual tournament, St. Olaf (5-4) shot 13-for-24 (54.2 percent) from three-point range and held UW-Stout (4-6) to 2-for-25 (8.0 percent) from behind the arc to snap its three-game losing streak with its largest margin of victory of the season. The Oles will take on either host St. Norbert College or the University of Northwestern (Minn.) in the championship game on Friday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.

Six Oles made at least one three-pointer and four made multiple tries from behind the arc, as St. Olaf's 13 made three-pointers marked its highest single-game total in 47 games dating back to making 15 in an 88-84 overtime loss at Hamline University on Jan. 29, 2020. The win improved head coach Dan Kosmoski's team to 3-1 against Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) foes this season.

Fifth-year senior Nathan Hendler led the three-point barrage by going 5-for-8 from distance on his way to a game-high 17 points and seven rebounds for St. Olaf, which shot 47.4 percent (27-for-57) from the field in the win. Hendler was one of four Oles in double figures on the evening, along with junior Connor Martin, senior Brendan Kauls, and first year Kobe Kirk.

Martin was 7-for-13 from the field during a 15-point, four-steal, three-assist performance, while Kauls sank both of his three-pointers to contribute a career-high 14 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists. Kirk made a pair of three-pointers as well to reach double figures for the eighth time in nine games with an 11-point performance.

St. Olaf limited Brody Fox, who entered the game leading NCAA Division III in scoring at 30.0 points per game and has a 70-point game to his credit this season, to 15 points in 30 minutes, marking his second-lowest point total of the season. Aidan Shore added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Blue Devils, who shot just 31.8 percent (21-for-66) from the field and committed 16 turnovers in the loss.

After a couple of early baskets by Fox gave UW-Stout a 4-3 lead two minutes in, St. Olaf held the Blue Devils scoreless for nearly five minutes to take a 10-4 lead and never looked back. Already leading 10-6, the Oles hit four three-pointers during a 17-4 run, including three in a row in a 46-second span to cap the spurt, to take a commanding 27-10 lead with 7:37 remaining in the opening half.

St. Olaf led by as many as 18 in the first half and took a 35-18 lead into the locker room after going 6-for-11 from behind the arc, compared to 0-for-13 for UW-Stout. Martin, Kauls, and Hendler combined for 30 of the Oles' 35 first-half points, while Fox and Shore had all 18 of the Blue Devils' points in the first 20 minutes.

Early in the second half, St. Olaf's lead never dipped below the 17-point halftime margin and ballooned to as many as 35 in the final two minutes on a three-pointer by first year Sebastian Loder. In an 18-point game eight minutes into the second half, senior Josh Albers drilled back-to-back three-pointers and Hendler followed with another all in the span of 1:18 to stretch the St. Olaf lead to 24, as the Oles hit 11 of their first 17 tries from three-point range.

St. Olaf shot 55.6 percent (15-for-27) from the field, including 53.8 percent (7-for-13) from behind the arc, and had 10 assists on its 15 made field goals in the second half while committing just three turnovers. The Oles also enjoyed a 23-2 advantage in points off turnovers in the victory.