St. Norbert Pulls Away In Second Half For Win Over Alma

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, December 28, 2018 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College turned in a solid second half to claim a 61-47 win over Alma College on the opening night of the 12th Annual Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The Green Knights (6-4) advance to play UW-River Falls (6-4) in the tournament championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday. Alma will play in the consolation game at 5 p.m. Saturday against College of St. Scholastica, which lost to River Falls 81-78 in the tournament's first game.

St. Norbert jumped to a nine-point lead midway through the first half at 19-10 on a Jared Murphy 3-pointer, but the Scots countered with an 11-2 run to tie the game 21-21 after three 3-pointers by Steven Harvey. The Green Knights came again with a 7-0 run of their own to take a 28-21 lead with 4:14 left in the half, but St. Norbert would settle for a 32-29 halftime advantage.

The Green Knights opened the second half on a 6-0 run, getting a basket from Joe Lemon and a pair of hoops from Connor Curtis for a 38-29 lead just over 4 minutes into the half. St. Norbert stretched its lead to 10 at 42-32 after a Murphy basket, but Alma cut it to single digits with a 3-pointer by Cole Kleiver with 10:36 remaining. The Green Knights would bang home three 3-pointers on their next three possessions to take control, with a pair of Joe Ciriacks triples sandwiched around a Murphy trifecta for a 51-35 lead with 7:39 to go. Alma would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

St. Norbert shot 38.1 percent from the floor, making 24 of 63 field-goal attempts. The Green Knights hoisted 35 three-point field-goal attempts against Alma's zone defense, making 11. St. Norbert also held a 41-29 rebounding advantage, including 17 on the offensive end. Murphy led the Green Knights with 19 points, while Ciriacks added 11. Curtis, Lemon and Wade Geenen all had eight points apiece, with Curtis snatching 13 rebounds and Lemon corralling 11 caroms.

Alma shot 37.8 percent (17-for-45) from the floor and was 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. Harvey was the only Scot to reach double figures with 15 points.