Green Knights Fight Past Lakeland in Nicolet Bank Tourney Opener

From Sports Information Director, December 29, 2010 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College slowly pulled away to earn a 69-58 win over Lakeland College in its opening game of the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament on Connie Tilley Court at Schuldes Sports Center.

The Green Knights, now 8-1 overall and ranked No. 12 by D3hoops.com, will face No. 10 Augustana (9-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday for the tournament championship. Lakeland (3-5) will play UW-Stout (5-5) at 5 p.m. in the consolation game.

St. Nobrert used a 12-4 run in the first half to build a 24-9 lead with 8 minutes 43 seconds left before halftime. Lakeland got to within 11 before the Green Knights settled on a 35-22 halftime lead.

The Muskies cut the deficit to 35-25 when Jack Ridgway canned a 3-pointer to open the second half, but St. Norbert held the visitors to without a field goal for the next 7:29 to take a 45-27 lead with 12:14 to go. The Green Knights led by as much as 21 points on two separate occasions.

St. Norbert was led by 12 points from John Taylor and 10 points from Garrett Thorn. The Green Knights were 21-for-51 (41.2 percent) from the floor and 20-for-28 (71.4 percent) at the free-throw line. Taylor, Thorn and Rob Durrett all had five rebounds to held St. Norbert to a 42-35 rebounding edge.

Tal Diekvoss led Lakeland with 16 points, while Josh Regal and Bobby Komorowski each added 11 points. Lakeland shot 31.5 percent (17-for-54) from the floor for the game.