DE PERE - St. Norbert College moved back into a tie atop the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference with a 69-57 win over Milwaukee School of Engineering at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.
The Green Knights (16-7, 13-3 NACC) extended their winning streak to nine and moved into a first-place tie with Wisconsin Lutheran College (17-7, 13-3) with one game remaining. St. Norbert travels Saturday to Edgewood College (7-17, 7-9), which is fighting for the sixth and final spot in the NACC Tournament. Wisconsin Lutheran travels to MSOE. St. Norbert has clinched no lower than a No. 2 seeding in the NACC Tournament, and now has a first-round bye and will host a semifinal game on Friday, Feb. 24.
St. Norbert started hot, making its first six field-goal attempts, but the Raiders kept pace as the Green Knights had a 14-12 lead on
Vito LaGioia's jumper. The Green Knights led 16-15 before going on a 14-0 run to take a 30-15 lead.
Connor Beauchamp had a run of six-straight points to put St. Norbert up 26-15 with 9:57 left in the half, and
Evan Glaser's hoop put St. Norbert up 30-15 with 7:28 left. The Green Knights would not score another field goal until Glaser's lay-in with 30 seconds left sent St. Norbert into halftime with a 36-27 halftime lead.
The Green Knights got two free throws and a 3-pointer from
Michael Payant to open the second half for a 14-point lead. St. Norbert led 44-36 with 16:29 to play before a 14-2 run put it ahead 58-38 with 11:01 to go. Beauchamp and
Carter Gebler canned 3-pointers during the run. The Green Knights then went 7:14 without a made field goal but broke the drought on a driving layup by Gebler for a 63-53 lead with 3:47 left. The Raiders would not get closer than eight points the rest of the way.
St. Norbert shot 48.1 percent (25-for-52) from the floor and outrebounded the Raiders 36-27. Glaser had 18 points, while Gebler added 14 points. Beauchamp had nine points and five rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench.
MSOE shot 38.5 percent (20-for-52) from the floor. Steve Dillard led the Raiders with 13 points.