Foresters Shoot Down Green Knights In MWC Tournament

From Sports Information Director, February 24, 2017 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

GREEN BAY - St. Norbert College couldn't slow down Lake Forest College from beyond the three-point arc and paid for it with a 73-70 loss in the semifinals of the Midwest Conference Tournament at UW-Green Bay's Kress Events Center.

The Foresters shot 11-for-13 from distance in the second half, turning a seven-point deficit early in the second half into a berth in the MWC Tournament championship game. Lake Forest will face Ripon College at 3 p.m. Saturday in the title contest. The Red Hawks beat Cornell College 80-79 in the other semifinal.

St. Norbert led 35-28 with 17:51 remaining before the Foresters banged in 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions to take a 40-35 lead with 15:14 to go. The Green Knights got back to even at 42-42 with 13:28 left but the Foresters would go on a 15-6 run to take a 57-48 lead with 10:13 left on a 3-pointer by Eric Porter.

The Green Knights battled back to a 66-66 tie with 3:15 left on a Terrence Garner layup, but Lake Forest's Mike Rueffer drilled a 3-pointer to give the Foresters a lead they would never relinquish. Mitchell Reinthaler's hoop with 1:51 left pulled the Green Knights to within one, but Danny Sotos drained a 3-pointer with 1:18 left.

Garner scored again with 53 seconds left to make it a 72-70 game. St. Norbert got a defensive stop but St. Norbert turned it over on an offensive foul by D.J. DeValk with 8 seconds left. Lake Forest's Jim Schick then split a pair of free throws, but Ben Bobinski's 3-pointer as time expired was off the mark.

St. Norbert shot 54.7 percent (29-for-53) from the floor but was 4-for-16 from distance. Garner led St. Norbert with 15 points. Reinthaler added 12 points, while DeValk and Bobinski had 11 points apiece. Taylor Penn added 10 points off the bench.

Lake Forest shot 52.0 percent (26-for-50) from the floor and finished 14-for-24 (58.3 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. Porter finished with 23 points, while Sotos added 12 points. Rueffer and Andrew Toth had 10 points apiece.