NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team had a look at a potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer that would not go in a 58-57 non-conference loss to visiting UW-River Falls on Tuesday night at Skoglund Center.

After fighting back from a 10-point deficit with a little over six minutes remaining, St. Olaf (4-4) got the rebound after UW-River Falls (4-6) missed two free throws with 4.7 seconds remaining and, after a timeout, got a look at a three-pointer by senior Josh Albers that hit the backboard and the rim before falling out. The win was the seventh in a row in the series for the Falcons.

The Oles cut the 10-point deficit to one at 58-57 on a deep three-pointer by fifth-year senior Nathan Hendler with 38 seconds remaining before forcing a turnover to get the ball back with a chance to go ahead. After the Falcons got a stop, the visitors missed back-to-back free throws with nine seconds to go keep it a one-point game. St. Olaf turned the ball over on an in-bounds pass on its next possession, but two more missed free throws kept the door open for the Oles before Albers' last-second three-point attempt.

Junior Connor Martin led all scorers with 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting for St. Olaf, which shot 45.5 percent (20-for-44) from the field but could not overcome a 16-turnover evening. First year Kobe Kirk was in double figures for the seventh time in eight games with 12 points off the bench. Senior Michael Meriggioli nearly contributed a double-double, finishing with nine points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Martin scored 13 of St. Olaf's 29 points in a low-scoring first half that saw the Oles hold the Falcons to 33.3 percent shooting (11-for-33) to take a 29-26 lead into the locker room. St. Olaf led for 15:31 in the half and led by as many as 11 at 23-12 after holding the visitors to two points over a seven-minute period to turn a 10-7 deficit into a 23-12 lead.

Trailing by 11, UW-River Falls went on an 8-0 run of its own to get back within three at 23-20 with 4:31 to go in the half. Martin scored five of the Oles' final six points to keep St. Olaf ahead at the break.

The Falcons started the second half on an 11-3 run over the first three minutes to take the lead at 37-32 and held onto the lead until the final two minutes. UW-River Falls took its largest lead of the night at 46-35 with 12:02 to go on a three-pointer by Logan Jedwabny before St. Olaf started chipping away with an 8-0 run to climb within three midway through the half.

The visitors pushed their lead back to 10 at 53-43 on a three-pointer by Will Van Scoy with 6:12 remaining, but the Oles answered by holding the Falcons scoreless for four-and-a-half minutes during an 11-0 run to take a 54-53 lead on a jumper by Martin with 1:45 on the clock. Five-straight points by Rodrick Payne, who had a team-high 19 points for UW-River Falls, swung the lead back to the Falcons to set up the nail-biting finish.

St. Olaf heads to De Pere, Wis. for the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament on Dec. 29-30 at St. Norbert College. The Oles open the tournament against UW-Stout on Thursday, Dec. 29 at 5 p.m.