St. Norbert Can't Get Over Hump Against Loras

From Sports Information Director, November 21, 2008 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

PLATTEVILLE - A cold shooting night offset a late St. Norbert College rally as the Green Knights fell to Loras College 69-63 in a first-round game in the UW-Platteville Tip-Off Tournament Game at Williams Fieldhouse's Bo Ryan Court.

The Green Knights, playing their first game in Platteville since 1958, fall to 1-1 and play Clarke College at 5 p.m. Saturday. Loras, which was playing in its season opener, has gone 21-7 in each of the last two seasons.

Loras held a 51-39 lead with 10 minutes 19 seconds left in the game. The Green Knights went on a 17-9 run over the next eight minutes to cut the deficit down to 60-56 with 1:54 left. But the Duhawks' Brian Centella converted a conventional three-point play with 1:26 to go for a 63-56 advantage. St. Norbert cut it to 67-63 with 26 seconds left on a Mike Dowden 3-pointer but Centella made a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left to salt away the win.

St. Norbert shot 34.5 percent from the field, making 19 of 55 shots. The Green Knights were 8-for-27 from the floor in the first half to fall behind 36-27 at halftime. St. Norbert made 7 of 19 3-pointers, 36.8 percent.

Loras had a strong night shooting, making 57.1 percent of its shots (24-for-42). The Duhawks also connected on 7 of 13 3-pointers (53.8 percent).

St. Norbert was able to climb back into the game by forcing 19 Loras turnovers, including 11 in the second half.

The Green Knights led 13-12 with 14:03 left in the first half after a Bryan Fleischmann 3-pointer. But St. Norbert would go almost the next seven minutes without scoring a field goal to fall behind 24-20. Tom Katzfey hit a pair of free throws with 1:55 left in the first half to pull St. Norbert within 31-27, but Loras went on a 5-0 run to close out the half.

Katzfey had a strong game for the Green Knights, netting 21 points on 7 of 11 shooting from the floor. Dowden and Fleischamann each had 13 points, while Dave Wipperfurth added 10.

Ricky Kolze had 19 points for Loras, while Centella added 17 points and Rex Parker 10. The Duhawks held a 31-28 rebounding advantage.