St. Norbert Wins 17th Straight In Topping Carroll

From Sports Information Director, February 11, 2014 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

WAUKESHA - St. Norbert College held off a determined Carroll University squad to claim a 68-62 Midwest Conference win at Van Male Fieldhouse.

The sixth-ranked Green Knights (19-1, 15-0 MWC) won for the 17th consecutive game, and clinched home-court advantage in the Midwest Conference Tournament, which will be held Feb. 28-March 1 at Schuldes Sports Center.

St. Norbert held a 61-53 lead with 6:03 left on Andrew Schwoerer's jumper, but the Pioneers (13-8, 10-6) mounted a furious rally. Brandon Ehrke converted a conventional three-point play with 4:50 left to cut the deficit to 61-56. St. Norbert's Austin Elliott hit a layup 22 seconds later, but Ehrke answered with two free throws with 4:15 left to make it 63-60.

Carroll got a stop and then rebounded its own miss, and Andrew Nottling's layup with 3:08 to go cut the deficit to 63-62. The Green Knights then had four shots at the basket on their next possession and missed them all. Carroll missed a chance to take the lead when Ehrke's 3-pointer was rebounded by Brandon Gries with 1:39 left. Following a timeout, Gries hit a tough shot from 13 feet out to put the Green Knights ahead 65-62 with 1:16 left. The Pioneers' Kyle Keranen missed a 3-pointer with 52 seconds left. Carroll opted not to foul, and Andrew Schwoerer put back a St. Norbert miss with 14 seconds left to seal the win.

The Pioneers got the early jump, leading by eight points twice, the last time at 19-11 with 10:23 left. The Green Knights answered with a 12-1 run, with Izaiah Anderson scoring six of the points. A 9-2 St. Norbert run over the last 3:30 of the first half gave the Green Knights a 34-26 halftime lead.

St. Norbert's biggest lead came with 12:55 to go when it lead 52-42.

Anderson led St. Norbert with a career-high 21 points and eight rebounds. Gries finished with 15 points and six rebounds, while Schwoerer had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. St. Norbert shot 45.6 percent from the floor, making 26 of 57 field-goal attempts. The Green Knights had a commanding 38-21 rebounding advantage, including 18 offensive rebounds which led to 20 second-chance points.

Carroll was led by Alec Molter's 14 points and seven rebounds. Ehrke finished with 11 points, while Keranen finished with 10 points. The Pioneers, the nation's leader in field-goal percentage, shot 51.2 percent from the floor by making 22 of 43 field-goal attempts.