Grzesk Wins 200th With Green Knights in Big Win Over Finlandia

From Sports Information Director, December 29, 2016 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

GREEN BAY - St. Norbert College coach Gary Grzesk picked up his 200th win at the helm of the Green Knights following an 88-35 dispatching of Finlandia University in the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament at UW-Green Bay.

Grzesk earned his 200th win in 263 games in his 11th season with the Green Knights. St. Norbert, ranked No. 7 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, also recorded the largest margin of victory in school history.

St. Norbert will play UW-Platteville at 7 p.m. Friday in the Kress Events Center in the tournament championship. Finlandia will face the University of Northwestern at 5 p.m. Friday in the consolation game. Platteville topped Northwestern 74-65 in the other first-round tournament game.

St. Norbert (6-2) led 41-27 at halftime before putting the game away by opening the second half on a 43-2 run to lead 84-29 with 4:10 remaining.

The Green Knights opened the game with a 19-2 run, taking a lead by that score on a Ben Bobinski 3-pointer with 12:23 left in the first half. St. Norbert led 34-24 with 2:41 left before closing the half on a 7-3 run to take a 41-27 lead at halftime.

St. Norbert scored the first 13 points of the second half, keyed by a pair of 3-pointers by Taylor Penn and a fast-break dunk by Connor Curtis to lead 54-27 with 16:53 remaining.

The Green Knights shot 49.3 percent (34-for-69) from the floor. Penn and Curtis led St. Norbert with 13 points apiece, while Bobinski added 11 points. All 14 Green Knights who dressed for the game reached the scoring column. St. Norbert also held a 44-26 rebounding advantage.

Finlandia shot 27.3 percent (12-for-44) from the floor. Geoff Smart led the Lions with 21 points.