St. Norbert Grinds Past Marian in Nicolet Bank Tourney Opener

From Sports Information Director, December 29, 2012 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College won its opening game in the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament with a 67-47 win over Marian University on Connie Tilley Court at Schuldes Sports Center.

The Green Knights (6-3) will face No. 6-ranked UW-Whitewater (9-1) in the championship game at 7 p.m. Sunday. Whitewater topped Northwestern (Minn.) College 71-61 in the other first-round game. Marian will face Northwestern at 5 p.m. Sunday in the consolation tussle.

St. Norbert suffered from cold shooting in the first 10 minutes of the game, and trailed the Sabres 12-11 with 10:25 left before halftime. The Green Knights then went on a 20-4 run to close out the half to take a 31-16 lead at the break. Austin Elliott and Jeremy Paprocki hit consecutive 3-pointers to start the run and boost St. Norbert's lead from 13-12 to 19-12.

Elliott canned a 3-pointer with 12:52 to go to give the Green Knights a 47-25 edge, and Marian would get no closer until the game's final score.

Elliott finished with a career-high 14 points. Paul Appleton and Izaiah Anderson both had 10 points for St. Norbert, which shot 46.2 percent (24-for-52) from the floor. St. Norbert had only six turnovers.

Jake Coenen led Marian with 12 points. The Sabres shot 30.4 percent (14-for-46) from the floor.