Green Knights Wear Down Monmouth In MWC Opener

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, November 30, 2018 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College got a big early-season win by topping defending Midwest Conference champion Monmouth College 67-50 at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The Green Knights (2-2, 1-0 MWC) shot almost 52 percent in the second half to break open a four-point game at halftime. St. Norbert held Monmouth to 42 percent shooting from the floor and harried the Scots into 17 turnovers.

St. Norbert held Monmouth scoreless for the first 6 1/2 minutes of the game but only had a 5-0 lead to show for it after making just one of its first 10 field-goal attempts. Joe Lemon and Joe Ciriacks had 3-pointers on consecutive possessions for an 11-5 lead with 12:24 left in the first half. After a Monmouth basket, a hoop by Lemon and another triple by Ciriacks put St. Norbert up 16-7 with 9:46 to go. The Green Knights led 25-16 but Monmouth scored the last five points of the first half to trail 25-21 at intermission.

The Green Knights couldn't get away from Monmouth in the early in the second half but never lost their lead, and held a 44-40 edge with 10 minutes remaining. A big 3-pointer by Ethan Riniker and a basket by Lemon put St. Norbert up nine. Monmouth got a hoop from Will Carius but Riniker canned another 3-pointer and the Green Knights led 52-42 with 7:11 to go. Monmouth got a basket from Jay Richardson to cut it to 52-44 with 6:14 left, but Logan Krekling's steal and layup put St. Norbert ahead by double digits, a margin the Green Knights would maintain the rest of the way.

Lemon led St. Norbert with 20 points, going 8-for-8 from the floor, hitting both of his 3-pointers, and 2-for-2 at the charity stripe. Riniker had 12 points, Ciracks 11 points and Wade Geenen added 10 points. The Green Knights shot 24-for-62 (38.7 percent) from the floor and outrebounded Monmouth 40-30.

Carius and D.J. Swift each had 16 points for Monmouth, which made 21 of 50 field-goal attempts.