Green Knights Grind Past UW-Stevens Point

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, November 25, 2017 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College made just enough plays down the stretch to hold off UW-Stevens Point in a hard-fought 58-54 triumph in a non-conference game at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The Green Knights (3-1) found themselves trailing 52-51 with 1:21 left after the Pointers' Ethan Bublitz hit a layup. St. Norbert retook the lead on the next possession when Brian Luteyn canned a pair of free throws with 1:10 to go.

Bublitz then tried a baseline jumper that was offline and St. Norbert rebounded with 45 seconds left. The Pointers dug in defensively and got St. Norbert's D.J. DeValk to miss a 3-pointer, but Luteyn snatched the offensive rebound and got the ball back to DeValk, who was fouled with 7.2 seconds left. DeValk made both ends of his 1-and-1 for a 55-52 lead.

St. Norbert then fouled Bublitz after he crossed half-court and his free throws cut the lead to 55-54. Following a deflection on the inbound pass, St. Norbert got the ball to Wade Geenen with 3.6 seconds remaining. Geenen was fouled, making the first and as it turned out fortuitously missing the second - as the rebound was knocked around running the clock down to 0.7 seconds left. Geenen was fouled again, and his two free throws sealed the win.

Stevens Point (1-2) opened the game with three 3-pointers on its first three possessions to take a 9-2 lead. St. Norbert responded with a 9-0 run of its own, capped by a 3-pointer from Geenen for an 11-9 lead at the 12:48 mark. Neither team would lead by more than four points the rest of the first half, and Joe Ciriacks' 3-pointer just before halftime gave the Green Knights a 27-24 edge at the break.

St. Norbert would take a 33-28 lead early in the second half on a Taylor Penn 3-pointer, but the Pointers went on an 11-2 run to take a 39-35 edge on a Nate Dodge triple. The Green Knights responded with an 11-2 run of its own to go ahead 46-41 with another Penn 3-pointer with 7:41 to go. Blake Ehrke's corner 3-pointer for the Pointers knotted the game at 48-48 with 5 minutes remaining, setting up the game's final moments.

The Green Knights shot 50 percent (20-for-40) from the floor and outrebounded the Pointers 25-17. DeValk led St. Norbert with 15 points, while Geenen added 14 points and Penn 11.

Stevens Point shot 52.6 percent (20-for-38) from the floor, but did not have a player reach double figures in scoring. Drew Fredrickson and Aaron Knez led the Pointers with eight points apiece.