Green Knights Rout Ripon to Stay Unbeaten in MWC

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, January 19, 2019 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIPON - St. Norbert College remained unbeaten in the Midwest Conference men's basketball race with an impressive 75-57 win over Ripon College at Willmore Center.

St. Norbert (12-5, 10-0 MWC) won for the sixth consecutive game and is now 104-8 in its last 112 games against MWC opposition. The Green Knights have also won 23 of their last 29 games against the Red Hawks.

Ripon (11-6, 7-3), which entered the game on a seven-game winning streak, jumped out to an early 9-4 lead before the Green Knights countered with a 12-2 run to take a 16-11 edge. Wade Geenen got the spurt started, but Ripon's Owen Theune hit a layup. St. Norbert scored nine straight points after that, with baskets from Nolan Beirne, Connor Curtis, Geenen and a trey from Drew Yetka.

The Red Hawks took a brief 22-20 lead with 5:27 left in the half, but St. Norbert would close the period on an 11-5 run to take a 31-25 lead into intermission. Yetka's 3-pointer with 31 seconds left in the half ended the run.

St. Norbert would score the first four field goals of the second half to take a 39-26 lead, the last on a thunderous dunk from Connor Curtis which had the Red Hawks asking for time with 16:22 left. Ripon would cut it to eight points at 39-31 with 15:16 to go, but the Green Knights scored the next six points to get some breathing room at 45-31 with 13:40 left. Yetka's triple with 12:12 to go put the Green Knights up 48-36 and the Red Hawks would get no closer the rest of the way.

The Green Knights shot 47.5 percent (28-for-59) from the floor. Geenen led all scorers with 19 points, while Curtis added 15 points, Lemon 14 points and Yetka 11 points. St. Norbert took exceptional care of the basketball, committing just four turnovers.

Ripon shot 34.7 percent (17-for-49) from the floor. Tyson Tully had 14 points, while Trent Jones and Cal Schultz had 11 points apiece.