St. Norbert Opens MWC Play With Key Win Over Lake Forest

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, December 4, 2019 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College got play in the Midwest Conference off on the right foot with an 84-71 win over Lake Forest College in a key early-season tilt between conference hopefuls at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

St. Norbert (2-2) harried Lake Forest (3-3) into 12 second-half turnovers, which ended up being just enough to offset the Foresters shooting 51.8 percent (29-for-56) from the floor while the Green Knights were 27-for-62 (43.5 percent).

The Green Knights opened up an early 14-7 lead after a quick 7-0 run on a basket by Jacob Bolwerk, a 3-pointer from Michael Payant and a hoop from Joe Ciriacks. The Foresters would counter with nine straight points of their own to take a 16-14 lead on a Sam Husting basket at the 12:25 mark, but Jared Murphy put St. Norbert ahead on a 3-pointer on the next possession.

Lake Forest and St. Norbert would exchange the lead 10 times in the first half, with a Ciriacks 3-pointer putting St. Norbert ahead to stay at 34-32 with 4:27 left in the half. The Green Knights would hold a 43-38 lead entering the final minute of the half, and Ciriacks canned a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left for an eight-point lead. St. Norbert forced a turnover on a Lake Forest inbound pass with just a couple seconds remaining, with Ciriacks beating the buzzer for a triple and a 49-38 lead at halftime.

The Foresters would open the first 6:58 of the second half on a 12-3 run to trim the deficit to 52-50, but the Green Knights would go on a 10-0 run to retake control. Baskets by Nolan Beirne and Bolwerk followed a Murphy conventional three-point play. Wade Geenen then had a conventional three-point play for a 62-50 lead with 11:11 left. St. Norbert would eventually open up a 71-56 lead with 9:09 remaining on a Connor Curtis layup.

The Green Knights held a 74-62 edge with 6:17 to go before the Foresters went on a 9-1 run to get to within 75-71 with 4:29 remaining. But St. Norbert would get seven consecutive defensive stops to close out the game and seal the win.

Ciriacks led St. Norbert with 23 points, while Murphy added 18 points and Curtis 13 points. The Green Knights held a 38-30 rebounding advantage and were 11-for-24 (45.8 percent) from beyond the three-point arc and 19-for-32 (59.4 percent) at the free-throw line.

Lake Forest was led by 15 points from Aram Arslanian, while Sean Espinosa added 13 points and Zak Klug 11 points. The Foresters were a perfect 4-for-4 at the free-throw line.