PLYMOUTH - St. Norbert College jumped out to a huge early lead and had to hold off a pesky Lakeland University squad to claim an 87-76 win in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game at Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Green Knights (17-5, 14-1 NACC) win sets up a key game against Aurora University (19-3, 14-1) in a first-place battle at 3:15 p.m. Saturday at Thornton Gymnasium in Aurora, Ill.

St. Norbert sprinted out to a 21-3 lead to start the game, taking a 10-0 lead four minutes in paced by five points from Cole Uhlenbrauck and a 3-pointer from Connor Pytleski (pictured). Following a Lakeland trey, the Green Knights then went on an 11-0 run behind five more points from Uhlenbrauck and four points from Charlie Geske for an 18-point edge just over six minutes into the contest. Lakeland would cut its deficit down to 10 points at 23-13 before the Green Knights built their largest lead of the game at 43-18 with 3:02 left in the half. St. Norbert led 48-25 at halftime.

The Green Knights led 54-38 with 14:13 to go before Lakeland scored eight points on its next three possessions to get to within nine with 12:42 to go. A 3-pointer from Uhlenbrauck with 9:56 left put St. Norbert ahead 60-48, but a 7-0 run by the Muskies cut the Green Knights' lead down to a tenuous 60-55 with 8:08 left. A conventional three-point play from Geske on the next possession stanched the bleeding as Lakeland would get no closer than six points the rest of the way. St. Norbert made all 10 of its free-throw attempts in the final 88 seconds to close out the win.

St. Norbert shot 46.7 percent (28-for-60) from the floor and was 25-for-32 (78.1 percent) at the free-throw line. Will Stuckey finished with 18 points, while Pytleski totaled a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Uhlenbrauck had 15 points and Geske added 13 points.

The Green Knights held a 45-32 rebounding advantage, which included 15 offensive caroms that turned into 20 second-chance points.

Lakeland shot 43.3 percent (29-for-67) from the floor and was 8-for-10 (80 percent) at the free-throw line. Peyton Mrotek finished with a game-high 35 points for the Muskies.