St. Norbert Opens Season With Loss at Benedictine

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, November 9, 2019 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

LISLE, Ill. - St. Norbert College couldn't slow down Benedictine University in an 87-79 loss in a season-opening non-conference game at Rice Center.

The Green Knights opened up an 11-point lead at 26-15 on a conventional three-point play by Connor Curtis with 7:28 left in the first half. Benedictine countered with a decisive 24-2 run over the next 4:38 to take a 39-28 lead with 2:50 left in the first half. Curtis had another conventional three-point play with 32 seconds left before halftime to send the Green Knights into halftime trailing 42-36.

St. Norbert trailed 44-36 early in the second half before eventually tying the game at 48-48 with 15:40 left. A Curtis dunk with 14:48 to go put St. Norbert ahead, with the Green Knights holding a pair of six-point leads. St. Norbert led 72-67 with 5:02 to go on a Jacob Bolwerk layup, but Benedictine would rally from there outscoring the Green Knights 20-7 the rest of the way.

A pair of Jared Murphy free throws gave St. Norbert its last lead at 75-74 with 3:31 left, but Benedictine would score on its next three possessions while St. Norbert had a pair of turnovers. Nolan Beirne's hoop with 55 seconds left brought the Green Knights to within 81-79, but Kenny Bogus' 3-pointer for the Eagles 24 seconds later effectively decided the outcome.

St. Norbert shot 46.3 percent (25-for-54) from the floor and was 20-for-27 (74.1 percent) at the free-throw line. Curtis finished with a career-high 29 points, while Geenen added 13 points, Murphy 11 points and Michael Payant 10 points.

Benedictine canned 52.5 percent (32-for-61) of its shots and was 15-for-31 (48.4 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. Bogus had a team-high 15 points to lead Benedictine.