DE PERE - St. Norbert College took advantage of getting to the basket and eventually the free-throw line in a 72-58 win over The University of Olivet in its Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament opener at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The win puts the Green Knights (9-2) into the championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday against unbeaten University of Dubuque (10-0). Olivet will face UW-Superior, which lost to Dubuque 77-64 in the first game, in the 5 p.m. consolation contest.

St. Norbert shot a frigid 33.3 percent (18-for-54) from the floor but its aggressiveness taking the ball to the rim put the Green Knights on the free-throw line a whopping 40 times, where they canned 32 for an 80 percent marksmanship. Olivet, which hoisted 32 three-point field-goal attempts out of its 57 overall shots, was 0-for-1 at the charity stripe.

The Green Knights led 11-6 in the early going before the Comets went on a 9-0 run to take a 15-11 lead with 12:07 left in the first half. St. Norbert went on an 8-0 run to take a 24-19 lead on a Derek Shaw 3-pointer with 6:36 left. St. Norbert held a 27-24 lead with 3:34 to go before going on a 10-2 run to close out the half. Connor Beauchamp connected on a 3-pointer and layup to get the run started, while a Jamison Nickolai 3-pointer capped the spurt for a 37-26 halftime lead.

St. Norbert opened the second half on a 16-3 run to take a 53-29 lead with 13:36 to play, with the closest Olivet would get the rest of the way being the final score.

Evan Glaser led St. Norbert with 16 points, while Nickolai had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Olivet, which shot 40.4 percent (23-for-57) from the floor, got a team-high 11 points off the bench from Nolan Finkbeiner.