Huge Second Half Fuels St. Norbert Rout of Ripon

From Sports Information Director, January 9, 2013 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIPON - St. Norbert College shot a blistering 69.2 percent from the floor in the second half to fuel a 72-43 rout of Ripon College in a Midwest Conference game at Storzer Center.

The Green Knights (9-3, 6-2 MWC) won their sixth consecutive game behind making 18 of 26 field goals to outscored the Red Hawks 46-19 in the second half after leading 26-24 at halftime. It was St. Norbert's largest margin of victory ever in Ripon, and the most for the Green Knights in a win over the Red Hawks since an 89-51 win on Feb. 15, 1984 at Schuldes Sports Center.

Ripon (6-8, 4-5) scored the first three points of the second half to take a 27-26 lead, but the Green Knights went on a staggering 19-0 run over a 4-minute stretch to take a commanding 45-27 lead. St. Norbert was 7-for-8 from the floor and split a pair of free throws during the run. Paul Appleton scored 11 points during the run, canning three 3-pointers and a fast-break layup.

The Red Hawks then cut the deficit to 10 on two occasions, the last coming at 47-37 with 8:18 left. Austin Elliott hit a 3-pointer with 7:37 left and shortly thereafter Ripon's Andy Popp was slapped with a technical foul. Appleton's two free throws gave the Green Knights a 52-37 advantage with 7:34 to go and the visitors would never lead by less than that margin the rest of the game.

Appleton came off the bench to net 23 points, three short of his career high. He canned 6 of 9 three-point field-goal attempts in 28 minutes. Andrew Schwoerer was the only other St. Norbert player to post double figures with 12 points, while Izaiah Anderson had nine points and nine rebounds. St. Norbert had eight turnovers while shooting 46.6 percent (27-for-58) from the floor for the game.

Ripon shot 34.2 percent (13-for-38) from the floor. Taylor Koth led the Red Hawks with 14 points.