DE PERE - St. Norbert College saw its season continue by the barest of threads as the Green Knights survived an 83-82 triple-overtime decision over Benedictine University in a semifinal game of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.
The Green Knights (22-5) will travel to Wisconsin Lutheran College (23-4) for the NACC Tournament championship at 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at Time of Grace Center in Milwaukee.
The win came in St. Norbert's sixth triple-overtime game in program history, matching the most overtimes ever in a game for the Green Knights. St. Norbert is now 8-0 all-time at home in its series with Benedictine.
St. Norbert held an 83-79 lead with 1:46 remaining in the third overtime after
Evan Glaser finished at the rim. The Eagles got back to within one when Trevor Montiel buried a 3-pointer with 1:28 remaining. St. Norbert missed a shot and then forced a Benedictine turnover with 45 seconds to go. Another St. Norbert shot was short with Benedictine corralling the rebound with 24 seconds to go. Following a timeout, Benedictine worked the ball to Montiel, whose fadeaway jumper from the baseline with three seconds left was high off the backboard to the waiting arms
Connor Pytleski, who dribbled out the clock to end the game.
The Green Knights looked in dire straits in the first overtime, trailing 66-63 inside a minute remaining. But
Jamison Nickolai made two free throws with 31 seconds left. St. Norbert then forced a turnover, and Glaser was fouled on a fastbreak with 22 seconds to go. He split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 66-66, and Benedictine's potential game-winning shot from Montiel was well short just prior to the buzzer.
St. Norbert jumped out to a 72-68 lead in the second overtime after
Carter Gebler canned a jumper with 2:33 left. Montiel hit an open 3-pointer at the 1:39 mark to cut it to 72-71. Gebler split a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left, and Benedictine's Drew Stokes converted a jumper with 12 seconds left. St. Norbert had two chances at the rim to win the game at the end of the second overtime, and a third was good but well after time had expired.
The Green Knights opened the game cold from the floor, falling behind 19-7 nine minutes into the game. St. Norbert still trailed 26-18 with 3:09 left in the half before closing on an 8-2 run to trail 28-26 at the break after Nickolai's layup beat the buzzer.
Neither team could get away from the other in the second half, with no lead larger than four points in the final 20 minutes of regulation. Benedictine had its largest lead of the second half at 44-40 with 8:45 to go, but Glaser's two free throws and a
Garrett Grzesk 3-pointer put St. Norbert ahead 45-44 with 8:09 remaining. The Green Knights built a 52-48 lead with 4:45 left, but the Eagules would tie it at 52-52 with 3:34 to go. Gebler's 3-pointer with 3:11 left gave St. Norbert a 55-52 edge. Glaser's layup with 1:41 to go put St. Norbert ahead with 1:41 remaining. Benedictine cut it to 57-56 on Drew Stokes' putback with 10 seconds left. Gebler was fouled on the inbounds pass and split a pair of free throws for a 58-56 lead. Montiel then hit a tough turnaround jumper from the right elbow with 0.3 seconds left to force overtime at 58-58.
St. Norbert shot a frigid 33.3 percent (28-for-84) from the floor and was 29.2 percent (7-for-24) from the field in the three overtime sessions. The Green Knights survived by playing a solid floor game, committing just six turnovers in 55 minutes of action and none in overtime. Glaser poured in career highs with 30 points and 13 rebounds. Gebler added 16 points, with eight coming in the overtimes. Grzesk added 14 points and six rebounds.
Benedictine shot 40 percent (32-for-80) from the floor and 42.1 percent (8-for-19) in the overtimes, but had four turnovers in the final 15 minutes. Montiel ripped the cords for 26 points with 15 rebounds, while Stokes had 20 points and eight rebounds. Ryan Sammons added 14 points and Tanner Resch had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Eagles had a commanding 62-50 rebounding advantage but committed 19 turnovers.
