DE PERE, Wis. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team held off North Central University for a 69-66 victory in the consolation game of the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament on Tuesday evening at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

After leading by eight at halftime, St. Olaf (6-6) stretched its lead to 15 early in the second half before North Central (2-11), which was playing its third game in as many days, rallied to cut its deficit to one midway through the half. The Oles were still up by just one with 1:23 remaining before sophomore Rex Lamb hit six consecutive free throws to seal the victory.

The win was St. Olaf's third in as many all-time meetings with North Central, which saw its losing streak move to seven games and fell to 1-5 against Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) foes this season. All three of the Oles' wins over the Rams have been by eight points or fewer and all three have come since 2019.

Lamb was in double figures in scoring for the 10th time in 12 games this season with a game-high 19 points and was 8-for-9 at the charity stripe in the win. Senior Kobe Kirk added 14 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore AJ Uhl narrowly missed a double-double with 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and three blocked shots. Sophomore Liam Madigan was also in double figures with 10 points and was 2-for-3 from three-point range for the Oles, who led for 37:19 and trailed for just 55 seconds in the game.

Carrington McNeal led three Rams in double figures with 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field and 5-for-6 shooting at the free-throw line. Carmello McNeal and Jax Effertz had 11 points apiece for North Central, which used a second-half press to force St. Olaf into a season-high 16 turnovers in its attempted rally.

After trailing 5-2 early, St. Olaf scored six consecutive points – four from Madigan – to take a lead it never relinquished. The Oles took their largest lead of the half at 27-18 with 3:52 to go after Lamb scored seven St. Olaf points in a row. Kirk banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Oles into the break with a 32-24 lead after St. Olaf held North Central to 29.0 percent (9-for-31) shooting in the opening half.

Out of the halftime break, the Oles got a layup by Uhl and a three-point play by Kirk to quickly extend their lead to 13, but the Rams' press helped North Central score the next six to quickly get its deficit back to seven. St. Olaf answered with an 8-0 run that included back-to-back three-pointers by Madigan to take its largest lead of the game at 45-30 with 15:43 to play.

North Central responded with a 10-0 run of its own to get within five with 13:36 remaining and made it a one-point game by extending the run to 16-2 midway through the half. Junior Chris Willis halted the run with a three-point play before hitting back-to-back jumpers – the second of which was another three-point play – in the final seven minutes to help the Oles increase their lead to seven.

The Rams did not go away, however, scoring six consecutive points to get within one on a layup by Jaquan Adams with 1:23 to play. Lamb proceeded to sink four free throws in a row on either side of a stop, and Uhl added a layup off a full-court press break with 23 seconds to go to help seal the win. St. Olaf, which entered the game ranked No. 16 in NCAA Division III in free-throw shooting (77.0 percent), was 17-for-18 (94.4 percent) at the free-throw line in the victory.

The Oles will return to MIAC play with a trip across the Cannon River to take on crosstown-rival Carleton College at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 3.