Cold Shooting Sends St. Norbert Tumbling Against Lawrence

From Sports Information Director, February 3, 2009 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - A 31 percent shooting night from the floor sent St. Norbert College to its first Midwest Conference loss of the season, a 75-52 setback to Lawrence University at Schuldes Sports Center.

The Green Knights, who had won 15 straight games and is ranked No. 11 nationally by D3hoops.com, fell to 16-2 overall and 10-1 in the Midwest Conference. Lawrence improved to 12-6 overall and 8-3 in the MWC. With five conference games left to play, St. Norbert holds a one-game lead on Carroll and a two-game advantage on Lawrence and Grinnell in the league standings.

St. Norbert entered the game shooting 50.1 percent from the floor this season. The Green Knights, playing without injured senior center Tom Katzfey, made just 19 of 61 shots from the floor. St. Norbert's starting five was 11-for-41 (26.8 percent) from the floor.

St. Norbert held just one lead in the game, an 8-7 advantage with 14:34 left in the first half. Jayce Apelgren hit a 3-pointer for a 10-8 Lawrence lead. Dave Wipperfurth's jumper tied the game at 10, but Lawrence would then go on an 8-0 run. Ryan Kroeger hit a jumper followed by a pair of free throws by Tyler Cullitan. Dustin Lee hit a 3-pointer and Erik Borrensen made it 18-10 with a free throw.

Mike Dowden hit consecutive 3-pointers to slice the deficit to 18-16 with 8:57 left in the first half. Lee hit another 3-pointer to make it 21-16. Wipperfurth made a free throw on the next possession, and with the ball in the air Lawrence coach Joel DePagter was slapped with a technical foul. Bryan Fleischmann made both free throws to cut it to 21-19. Both teams traded baskets when Wipperfurth's 3-pointer made it 29-26 with 3:47 left. But Lawrence's John Dekker hit a 3-pointer to start a 9-2 run to close out the first half and a 38-28 lead.

St. Norbert had just four points in the first six minutes of the second half as Lawrence built a 50-32 lead. The Green Knights would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the way. The second half did not feature a personal foul called in the first 11 minutes of the period.

Kroeger finished with 16 points to lead Lawrence, while Apelgren finished with 14. Kadison had 11 poitns and Dekker 10 for the Vikings, who held a 36-29 rebounding advantage.

Dowden was the only St. Norbert player to score in double figures with 14 points. The Green Knights finished the game with just six turnovers.