St. Norbert Wins For 1,000th Time In Win Over North Park

From Sports Information Director, November 18, 2014 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College won the 1,000th game in the history of the men's basketball program with a 76-65 non-conference win over North Park University at Schuldes Sports Center.

The Green Knights improved to 1,000-854 in its 92nd season of basketball, which dates back to the 1917-18 school year. Entering the season, only 118 other NCAA Division III schools had won 1,000 games in its history.

St. Norbert (2-0) had a white-hot start in the first half, building a 27-17 lead on a 3-pointer by Austin Elliott with 9:57 left in the period. The Green Knights led 29-19 with 5:56 left in the half before closing the period on a 10-0 run, which included a conventional three-point play by Terrence Garner.

The Green Knights led 42-22 with 17:52 left on a Steven Hofacker basket before the Vikings (0-1) slowly climbed back into the game. The Green Knights went 9 minutes without a field goal, finally breaking the ice on a Garner layup with 8:52 to go. St. Norbert was 9-for-10 at the free-throw line during the shooting drought to help keep its lead.

North Park cut the deficit down to 56-50 with 6:43 to go, but St. Norbert scored the next six points. A D.J. DeValk jumper with 2:57 left put St. Norbert ahead 68-55 with 2:57 to go, but the Vikings' Colin Lake drained a 3-pointer and converted a conventional three-point play to cut it back to 68-61 with 2:14 to go. St. Norbert made all six of its free throws down the stretch to hold off North Park.

St. Norbert shot 51.2 percent from the floor, making 22 of 43 field-goal attempts. The Green Knights were also 27-for-31 (87.1 percent) at the free-throw line and outrebounded the Vikings 32-21. Elliott finished with 18 points, while Garner had a career-high 16 points. Hofacker had seven points and a career-high 12 rebounds.

Jordan Robinson led North Park with 20 points, while Lake added 17 and T.J. Cobbs 10. The Vikings shot 43.4 percent (23-for-53) from the floor.