Green Knights Grind Past UW-Oshkosh

From Sports Information Director, November 20, 2013 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College did not have things go easy against a youthful UW-Oshkosh squad, but the Green Knights ground out a 63-53 win over the Titans in a non-conference game at Schuldes Sports Center.

The Green Knights (2-0), ranked No. 24 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, won for the sixth consecutive year in the series. Oshkosh (0-1) has 10 freshmen on this season's roster.

The Titans had the better of it in the early going, holding down St. Norbert's offense to build a 19-11 lead on a conventional three-point play by Alex Olson with 6 minutes 11 seconds left in the first half. From there the Green Knights answered, going on an 11-0 run to close out the half.

Brandon Gries had a pair of free throws to get things started, and later canned a jumper to halve the deficit. Bryan Dalton made two free throws, and Austin Elliott's 3-pointer with 1:12 left in the half gave the Green Knights their first lead at 20-19. A pair of Gries free throws closed out the half for a 22-19 lead.

The game was knotted at 25-25 early in the second half but St. Norbert went on a 12-0 run over nearly a six-minute stretch to take a 37-25 lead on a Gries basket. Oshkosh responded with a 7-0 run of its own to trim the deficit to 39-35 with 9:54 left, but would get no closer.

St. Norbert would eventually build an 11-point lead at 48-37 with 6:37 left, but Oshkosh would get no closer than six points on three different occasions.

The Green Knights set a school record by converting all 22 of their free-throw attempts. St. Norbert had shot 100 percent from the line only once previously, coming against Lawrence on Feb. 14, 2007.

Gries led St. Norbert with 21 points, while Kam Cerroni added 12 points and Dalton posted a career-high 11 points. Andy Fox had six assists for the Green Knights, who shot 43.9 percent (18-for-41) from the floor.

Oshkosh shot 32.7 percent (18-for-55) from the floor but had 15 offensive rebounds. Jade Royston netted 15 points, while Dylan Wurtz added 14.