DE PERE - Shots fell. Free throws clanged. Bodies crashed to the floor. Tissue was bruised. Oaths were muttered. Pressure mounted.

All that and much more between two longtime rivals squaring off for the 130th renewal of a near century-old rivalry, as St. Norbert College survived a battle of attrition against Ripon College 82-77 in overtime in both teams' season opener in a wild non-conference tussle at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The game featured 48 fouls - 30 whistled on Ripon - while the Green Knights attempted 46 free throws but made just 27 for a marksmanship of 58.7 percent. Four players - three for Ripon and one for St. Norbert - fouled out, while another Red Hawk was dismissed for two technical fouls.

St. Norbert forced overtime after trailing by as many as 15 points in the first half when Carter Gebler missed the first of two free throws but then buried the second with 0.3 seconds remaining to knot the score at 73-73.

Ripon scored the first basket of overtime but the Green Knights then went on a 7-0 run. Evan Glaser started the run with a basket and then Aidan Harrington got the roll to convert a conventional three-point play for a 78-75 with 3:57 left. Ripon then missed its next four field-goal attempts and Connor Pytleski swished a pair of free throws with 1:44 to go. Ripon would shoot four free throws but only made two, the last to make it 80-77 with 29 seconds left. Gebler and Garrett Grzesk then each split two free throws in the game's waning seconds for the final margin.

St. Norbert opened the game with a decent start, taking a 9-2 lead just over five minutes in. Ripon then got hot offensively, scoring on five of its next seven possessions to take an 18-13 lead with 10:35 left in the half. The Red Hawks kept the lead the rest of the first half, seeing a 22-19 advantage eventually rupture into a 38-23 bulge with 2:50 left in the half. The Red Hawks eventually settled on a 40-29 lead at halftime.

The Green Knights went to work quickly in the second half, needing just under five minutes to take the lead on a Garrett Grzesk basket at the 15:03 mark following a wild sequence that put St. Norbert in the bonus at that point. RIpon held a 54-51 lead with 11:21 to go but St. Norbert then went on an 11-0 run to take a 62-54 lead with 8:24 to go. A Harrington 3 with 7:20 to go again put the Green Knights up 8, but an 11-2 run by the Red Hawks over the next 3:20 put the visitor up 69-67. Ripon held a 72-69 lead with 2:39 to go before Pytleski canned a 3 from the corner on the next possession to tie it at 72. Neither team scored again until Luke Meinholz split a pair of free throws with 5 seconds left. St. Norbert raced up court and Gebler was fouled with 0.3 remaining, setting up his game-tying free throw.

St. Norbert shot 45.5 percent from the floor, making 25 of 55 field-goal attempts. The Green Knights' 46 free-throw attempts were the most in a game against a non-Grinnell College opponent since attempting 50 against Lake Superior State University on Dec. 17, 1983. St. Norbert also held a 43-36 rebounding advantage but committed 20 turnovers.

Gebler finished with 16 points and 10 assists for the Green Knights, while Harrington had 15 points, Glaser 14 points and six rebounds and Jamison Nickolai 12 points and seven rebounds. Garrett Grzesk added 10 rebounds with seven points and four assists. Pytleski finished with nine points off the bench in his first college game.

Ripon shot 45.2 percent (28-for-62) from the floor but was 9-for-18 (50 percent) on three-point field-goal attempts. The Red Hawks were also 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) at the free-throw line. Meinholz led Ripon with 24 points, while Connor Spielvogel added 15 and Jayden Fitch 11.