St. Norbert Cagers Outlast Lake Forest

From Sports Information Director, February 7, 2009 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - St. Norbert College snapped a two-game losing streak but needed overtime to do it with a 73-64 Midwest Conference win over Lake Forest College at the Lake Forest Sports Center.

The Green Knights, ranked No. 11 nationally by D3hoops.com, improved to 17-3 overall and 11-2 in the MWC, and hold a one game lead in the conference race with three games left to play. Lake Forest fell to 6-14, 5-8.

Lake Forest's Patrick Hanley banked in a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to tie the score at 59-59. John Taylor missed a potential game-winner for St. Norbert with 6 seconds left.

St. Norbert never trailed in overtime. Bryan Fleischmann canned a 3-pointer with 3:53 left. Lake Forest's Dayton Young made one of two free throws on the ensuing possession, but Taylor then hit a triple for a 65-60 lead with 3:05 to go. A Hanley bucket cut the deficit to 65-62 but St. Norbert scored on five of its final six possessions of the game to seal the victory.

The Green Knights got out to a quick start, taking a 13-7 lead on a Dave Wipperfurth 3-pointer. After trading baskets for a 15-9 lead with 10:44 left, St. Norbert went on another prolonged scoring drought scoring only five points the rest of the half to trail 23-20 at the break.

Lake Forest took a 30-22 lead with 17:14 left in the second half before a Fleischmann 3-pointer started the St. Norbert comeback. Wipperfurth hit a 3 to finish a 10-2 run and knot the game at 32-32, while Chris Peterson's triple gave St. Norbert a 37-34 lad with 10:59 left. Neither team led by more than four points the rest of regulation until Ryan Finneke's two free throws put St. Norbert ahead 57-52 with 1:30 left. But the Green Knights would make just two of four free throws in regulation and Lake Forest was able to force overtime.

St. Norbert shot 45.1 percent for the game and had just eight turnovers. The Green Knights were 11-for-23 from beyond the three-point arc. Fleischmann had 14 points, while Wipperfurth added 13. Finneke had 11 points while Paul Mallers added 10. St. Norbert had 35 bench points in the game.

Lake Forest shot 47.1 percent for the game, with Hanley scoring 16 points. Victor Campbell and Nate Bateman each added 10 points.