NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College men's basketball team came back from a halftime deficit to take a lead with under three minutes to go, but lost the edge and fell 81-75 to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons.
For the first time in his career,
Sam Koelling scored 20-plus points in consecutive games, scoring 22 on 8-for-11 shooting (3-for-5 from 3-point distance).
Patrick Smith notched his first collegiate double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Josh Engelberg poured in 18 points while adding four assists and a career-high four steals.
Tobias Averill scored 15 points and blocked two shots.
The game stood at 8-8 three minutes into the first half, but UW-River Falls (1-0) embarked on a 17-6 run spanning five minutes to open up a 25-14 lead. Carleton could not make any headway over the remainder of a furious first half that saw the Knights (1-1) shoot 58.3 percent from the floor and the Falcons blister the net at 66.7 percent shooting. At the break, River Falls led 49-39.
The Knights exploded out of the break, outscoring the Falcons 15-5 over the first six-and-a-half minutes of second-half play. An
Owen Zabel free throw tied the game at 54-all with 13:27 to go in the game. The game remained razor-tight for the remainder of the stanza, with neither team leading by more than two scores. Averill made a left-handed layup in transition with 2:21 to go that gave the Knights a 72-71 lead, but first-year Falcons guard Arhan Bayramlar hit two consecutive step-back threes to flip the game on its head. Carleton would not recover the lead and took the tight loss.
The Falcons shot 52.6 percent from the field, making 9-of-21 3-pointers (42.9 percent). The visitors made 12-of-18 free throws (66.7 percent). Carleton hit 47.9 percent of its field goals but just 26.3 percent of its 3-point tries (5-for-19). The Knights made 72.7 percent of their shots at the stripe (24-for-33). Carleton narrowly won the rebound battle 30-28 but committed 18 turnovers to River Falls' 17. The Falcons scored 26 points off turnovers.
Bayramlar finished with 18 points, making 5-of-5 shots from 3-point land. Reggie Postel tallied 21 points, six assists, and three steals. Owen Havlik posted 13 points. Reid Tengblad scored 10.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton travels to Platteville, Wis. for a pair of games at the Gabe Miller Classic next weekend. The first game is against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on Friday, Nov. 13, tipping off at 7:00 p.m.
