DE PERE - St. Norbert College made its first men's basketball game in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play a memorable one with a 65-61 win over Lakeland University on Connie Tilley Court at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The Green Knights (4-1, 1-0 NACC) and Muskies (3-3, 0-2 NACC) renewed a long-time rivalry dating back to 1933, with the two teams meeting for the 98th time. Archrivals during the 1960s and 1970s, the schools had met just three times since 1983 prior to St. Norbert joining the NACC this season.

The game was a hotly contested affair with Lakeland jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead. The Green Knights then went on a 14-2 run to take a 16-10 advantage, with Jacob Bolwerk getting six points during the spurt. Lakeland got back to within 21-18 but St. Norbert pushed the lead out to nine twice before eventually building a 34-22 lead with 2:45 left on Nick Smoldt's fastbreak layup. The Muskies would get a pair of 3-pointers and a jumper from Cam Jaeger to finish the half on an 8-0 run and trail 34-30 at halftime.

St. Norbert led 42-35 with 16:14 to go after a Jack Pettit dunk, but Lakeland would then go on a 9-0 run over the next 4:21 to take a 44-42 edge on a Travis Kohlmann 3-pointer with 11:53 remaining. The score would remain taut the rest of the way, with neither team getting more than a two-point lead until the late stages of the game. The second half featured six ties and eight lead changes.

Lakeland would hold its last lead at 57-56 on a 3-pointer by Jaeger with 4:17, but St. Norbert went back ahead on a triple by Bolwerk with 3:19 to go. Matt Sechman canned a pair of free throws for the Muskies with 3:06 left to tie the game at 59-59. Ben Jelacic's layup with 2:45 left gave St. Norbert a 61-59 lead, but Lakeland answered on a jumper by Kohlman with 2:11 to go. Pettit put St. Norbert ahead for good at 63-61 on a driving layup with 1:42 to go. The Green Knights would get a pair of defensive stops and finally got a two-possession lead on Carson Talbert's putback layup with the shot clock expiring with 25 seconds left for the game's final points.

St. Norbert shot 37.9 percent (25-for-66) from the floor but committed just 10 turnovers. Bolwerk had 15 points, while Pettit added 12 with eight rebounds. Jelacic and Talbert had 10 points apiece, with Talbert adding eight rebounds. The Green Knights also had 14 valuable fast-break points and scored 23 points off 14 Lakeland turnovers.

Lakeland shot 39 percent (23-for-59) from the floor. Jaeger had a game-high 19 points to pace the Muskies, while Aiden Polzin chipped in 15 points.