Green Knights Breeze Past UW-Oshkosh

From Sports Information Director, November 15, 2012 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

OSHKOSH - St. Norbert College shot a blistering 56.6 percent from the floor en route to a 79-49 rout of UW-Oshkosh in a non-conference season opener at Kolf Sports Center.

The Green Knights (1-0) claimed their biggest win in the history of their 81-game series with the Titans, which dates back to the 1917-18 season. The win marked St. Norbert's fifth consecutive win over Oshkosh.

St. Norbert led 20-19 with 6:27 remaining in the first half, but closed the period on a 17-6 run to take a 37-25 lead at halftime. Garrett Thorn's conventional three-point play got the run started, and Brandon Gries scored the last of his eight points during the run with a three-point play of his own for a 33-25 advantage with 1:59 left before halftime.

The Green Knights slowly pulled away in the second half, eventually building a 20-point lead on an Andrew Schwoerer basket for a 54-34 lead with 10:52 remaining. The Titans would get no closer than 18 points the rest of the game.

Gries led all scorers with 19 points, and he also matched a career high with seven assists. Schwoerer netted 14 points, while Thorn tallied 11. The Green Knights connected on 30 of 53 shots from the floor, and made 6 of 13 (46.2 percent) 3-pointers. St. Norbert also held a commanding 37-23 rebounding edge.

Cory Nickel had 10 points to lead Oshkosh, which shot 36.2 percent from the floor by making 17 of 47 field-goal attempts. The Titans were 3-for-19 (15.8 percent) from beyond the three-point arc.