Red-Hot Warhawks Shoot Down St. Norbert

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, December 30, 2017 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - UW-Whitewater made its first six field-goal attempts - all 3-pointers - creating a hole just too big for St. Norbert College to overcome in an 89-78 loss in the championship game of the 11th Annual Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

Whitewater (10-1), ranked No. 11 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, couldn't miss in the early going, getting three 3-pointers from Derek Rongstad to start the game and then three consecutive triples from Dalton Menke to cap off an 18-6 run to open the game.

St. Norbert (9-2) cut the deficit to 23-15 with 11:32 left in the first half on a 3-pointer by Taylor Penn, but Whitewater eventually built a 47-24 lead late in the first half before settling on a 49-30 lead at halftime. The Warhawks shot 64.3 percent (18-for-28) from the floor and 10-for-17 (58.8 percent) from beyond the three-point arc in the first half.

The Green Knights again fell behind by 23 points at 54-31 with 16:50 before going on an impressive 20-1 run in just 6 1/2 minutes to pull within four points. Mitchell Reinthaler had nine points during the run, including a layup to bring St. Norbert to within 55-41 with 10:20 to go. Whitewater answered with a 9-0 run of its own to go ahead 64-51 with 7:42 left. St. Norbert cut the deficit back down to nine points twice after that but could get no closer.

St. Norbert ended up shooting 50 percent (28-for-56) from the floor, including 60 percent (15-for-25) in the second half. D.J. DeValk led St. Norbert with 24 points, while Reinthaler added 23 and seven rebounds. Connor Curtis chipped in with 12 points off the bench. DeValk and Reinthaler were both named to the All-Tournament Team, with DeValk becoming the first player in the history of the tournament to make the All-Tournament Team four times.

Whitewater finished shooting 57.4 percent (27-for-47) from the floor and 14-for-24 (58.3 percent) from beyond the three-point line. The Warhawks were also 21-for-24 (87.5 percent) at the free-throw line. Rongstad and David Sachs each had 21 points, while Andrew Brown had 13 points. All three of those players were named to the All-Tournament Team, with Rongstad being named Tournament MVP. Menke also finished with 14 points.

Rebounds were even at 24-24.