DE PERE - St. Norbert College held off Concordia University Wisconsin and staked a 77-69 win in a key Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference win at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.
The Green Knights (7-2, 4-1 NACC) will head into the traditional holiday break from conference action with no worse than a share of first place after handing the Falcons (5-6, 4-2) their second league loss of the season.
St. Norbert saw a 60-56 lead with 9:44 left evaporate into a 65-61 deficit with 7:23 to go after a 9-1 Concordia run. The Green Knights then had to get three defensive stops to remain within four points before getting a pair of
Michael Payant free throws with 5:38 to go and a
Josh Nicklaus 3-pointer with 5:02 left to take a 66-65 lead. Concordia's Brandon Keller then got loose for a dunk to give the Falcons a 67-66 lead with 4:21 remaining.
Neither team would score for almost two minutes until Nicklaus' driving layup put the Green Knights ahead 68-67 with 2:25 left.
Carson Talbert split a pair of free throws after a Concordia loose-ball foul for a 69-67 lead with 1:53 to go. St. Norbert missed a pair of shots and then got a stop before Nicklaus drained a 3-pointer from the far corner for a 72-67 edge with 43 seconds to go, swinging the momentum the home team's way for good. St. Norbert would make 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to salt the game away.
St. Norbert came out hot from the start, building a 16-5 lead five minutes in, capped by a Payant 3-pointer. The Green Knights would lead 30-21 with 5:01 left and 33-26 with 3:30 left before settling on a 35-35 halftime lead.
The second half would then feature 10 lead changes and four ties.
St. Norbert shot 46.6 percent from the floor, making 27 of 58 field-goal attempts. The Green Knights also drained 9 of 19 three-point field-goal attempts, good for 47.4 percent. Payant led the Green Knights with a career-high 20 points. Talbert added 15 points, while Nicklaus and
Parker Lawrence added 13 points apiece. Nicklaus' point-total was also a career-high.
Jacob Bolwerk chipped in 10 points.
Concordia shot 50 percent (27-for-54) from the floor but was offset by 24 turnovers. Jordan Johnson posted a game-high 28 points, while Keller added 12 points and Jared Jurss 10 points.
