St. Norbert Gets Win Over Illinois College

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, January 12, 2018 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - St. Norbert College remained unbeaten in Midwest Conference action with a 73-63 win over Illinois College at Bruner Center.

The Green Knights (12-2, 7-0 MWC) moved its lead in the MWC standings to two games heading into Saturday's key game at Monmouth College. St. Norbert leads Monmouth and Lake Forest College, both 5-2 in conference action.

St. Norbert fell behind by five points early and was tied 20-20 with 6:57 left in the first half before eventually getting some separation. Connor Curtis and D.J. DeValk scored on consecutive possessions for a four-point lead. Taylor Penn scored a couple possessions later for a 27-20 lead with 4:08 left in the half. A pair of Curtis free throws with 33 seconds left in the half gave the Green Knights a 35-28 lead at halftime.

The Green Knights led 48-38 with 10:44 left on a tip-in by Joe Lemon, but the Blueboys answered with 9-1 run to get to within 49-47 with 8:12 left. St. Norbert dug in, getting a conventional three-point play by DeValk and a 3-pointer by Curtis on the next two trips down the floor to go up 55-47 with 7:02 left. Illinois College's Mason Speer canned a 3-pointer, but the Green Knights would score the next seven points to rupture the lead to 12 with 3:35 to go. The Blueboys would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

St. Norbert shot 46.8 percent (22-for-47) from the floor and was a lusty 90.9 percent (20-for-22) at the free-throw line. DeValk had a game-high 21 points, while Connor Curtis had 19 points and eight rebounds. Mitchell Reinthaler posted his fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Illinois College shot 46.0 percent (23-for-50) from the floor. Brady Hays had a team-high 14 points, while Sean McDonald added 11 points.