Balanced Effort Leads St. Norbert Past Ripon

From Sports Information Director, January 26, 2016 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIPON - St. Norbert College got double digits in scoring from all five starters and erupted for 52 second-half points as the Green Knights rolled to an 83-63 win over Ripon College in a Midwest Conference game at Storzer Center.

The Green Knights (15-2, 12-0 MWC) extended their winning streak against Midwest Conference opponents to 56 games. St. Norbert, who has won the last 10 and 20 of the last 22 meetings with Ripon (10-7, 8-4) face Carroll University (14-2, 10-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Waukesha in another crucial league game.

St. Norbert found itself on the short end of a 31-21 deficit late in the first half following a 7-0 Red Hawks' run. Isaac Masters canned a pair of free throws for Ripon with 2:13 left in the first half for a 10-point lead. The Green Knights would close out the half on an impressive 10-0 kick, with Seth Taylor starting the run with a 3-pointer 8 seconds after Masters' free throws. D.J. DeValk drained a 3-pointer at the 1:15 mark to cut it to 31-27 and a pair of free throws by Taylor with 33 seconds left cut the deficit to two points. DeValk's jumper just before the halftime buzzer knotted the score at 31-31.

The Green Knights then went on a 10-2 run to open the second half, essentially going on a 20-2 run spanning both halves. Ty Sabin's jumper for Ripon at the 19:17 mark gave the Red Hawks their last lead at 33-32. DeValk's 3-pointer 17 seconds later put the Green Knights ahead by two. Tim Marshall then had a pair of hoops in the paint and Mitchell Reinthaler drained a pair of free throws for a 41-33 lead with 16:56 left.

Ripon would trail 48-45 with 13:05 to go and had its last single-digit deficit at 60-52 with 8:27 remaining. Dakota Oskey and DeValk nailed consecutive 3-pointers at that point for a 66-52 lead with 7:31 to go and the Green Knights were never threatened the rest of the way.

St. Norbert shot 44.8 percent (26-for-58) from the floor and was 11-for-26 (42.3 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. DeValk led the Green Knights with 21 points, including a 5-for-7 effort on three-point field-goal attempts, and had seven assists, five rebounds and no turnovers. Marshall added 14 points, while Reinthaler and Terrence Garner had 11 points apiece. Ben Bobinski added 10 points. The Green Knights held a 42-29 rebounding advantage.

Sabin had 27 points to lead the Red Hawks, who were 21-for-52 (40.4 percent) from the floor. Ty Ketz was the only other Red Hawk to reach double figures with 11 points.