St. Norbert Wears Down Illinois College

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, December 2, 2017 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College gradually pulled away from Illinois College in a 75-56 in a Midwest Conference game at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The Green Knights (5-1, 2-0 MWC) jumped out to a 10-0 lead to open the game but found themselves tied 12-12 with 11:13 left in the first half after the Blueboys countered with a 12-2 run.

Wade Geenen and Joe Ciriacks hit consecutive 3-pointers to give St. Norbert some breathing room, and ignited a 18-4 run that saw the Green Knights lead rupture to a 30-16 edge. St. Norbert settled on a 30-20 lead at halftime.

Illinois College (3-2, 0-2 MWC) opened the second half on a 9-2 run to get to within 32-29 with 18:05 remaining, but the Green Knights went on a quick 9-0 spurt thanks to a 3-pointer by Ciriacks, a conventional three-point play by Joe Lemon and a 3-pointer by Taylor Penn for a 41-29 edge with 14:58 to go. The Blueboys trailed 47-39 with 10:24 to go but a 6-0 run over the next 1:03 - all scored by D.J. DeValk - finished off Illinois College.

St. Norbert shot 44.1 percent (30-for-68) from the floor and canned 10 of 27 (37.0 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. DeValk finished with 15 points, while Mitchell Reinthaler added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Ciriacks finished with a career-high 14 points, while Lemon had a career-high 12 rebounds with seven points.

Sean McDonald had a team-high nine points for the Blueboys, who shot 37.0 percent (20-for-54) from the floor.