DE PERE - St. Norbert College won for the 20th time in 2023-24 as it survived a 72-60 win over Benedictine University in a highly physical Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The Green Knights (20-4, 15-2 NACC) registered a 20-win season for the ninth time in the last 14 seasons under coach Gary Grzesk and for the 11th time in program history. St. Norbert can clinch at least a share of the NACC regular-season championship and the No. 1 seeding for the NACC Tournament on Saturday with a win at Marian University.

St. Norbert and Benedictine were tied at 12-12 about 5 1/2 into the game before the Green Knights went on an 8-0 run. Connor Pytleski, Kyle Krueger, Evan Glaser and Carter Gebler all scored during the run for a 20-12 leave with 11:43 left in the half. Benedictine would cut it to three before St. Norbert pushed it back to seven at 24-17 with 7:27 left on a pair of Garrett Grzesk free throws. The Green Knights would take an eight-point lead at 32-24 on a 3-pointer by Pytleski. Jamison Nickolai's layup just before halftime made it 34-26 at intermission.

The Green Knights eventually built a 14-point lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Grzesk at 47-33 with 14:33 left. An Alex Georgakas layup with 10:46 to go gave St. Norbert its largest lead at 16 points at 53-37 with 10:46 remaining. Benedictine got within seven with three minutes left but would get no closer.

St. Norbert shot 49 percent (25-for-51) from the floor and committed just seven turnovers. Gebler had 15 points and six assists, while Pytleski came off the bench to add 15 points. Grzesk had 12 points and Glaser 10 points. Nickolai finished with nine points, nine rebounds and five steals.

Benedictine shot 37.7 percent (23-for-61) from the floor. Tanner Resch led the Eagles with 16 points.