St. Norbert Blows Past Lake Forest Behind Second-Half Barrage

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, January 21, 2020 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - St. Norbert College extended its winning streak to 14 games with an impressive 86-52 win over Lake Forest College in a Midwest Conference game at LFC Sports Center.

The Green Knights (14-2, 9-0 MWC), ranked No. 19 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, held a 37-23 halftime lead but then outscored the Foresters by 20 points in the second half to blow the game open. St. Norbert led the Foresters (8-7, 5-3) by as many as 39 points in the second half.

St. Norbert never trailed, and the game was tied just once - at 3-3 in the game's early stages. The Green Knights led 16-12 midway through the first half until going on 10-0 run to take a 26-12 lead. Jared Murphy started the run with a pair of baskets, followed by hoops from Jack Pettit, Jacob Bolwerk and Joe Ciriacks. Lake Forest would get to within eight points until the Green Knights scored the last six points of the first half, capped by a Michael Payant layup for a 14-point edge at intermission.

The Green Knights held a lead in the low double digits most of the first seven minutes of the second half until an 8-0 run by St. Norbert turned a 48-37 lead into a a big 56-37 edge after a Payant 3-pointer with 10:19 to go. St. Norbert then led 57-41 with 9:23 left, but that lead eventually ruptured into an 85-46 bulge with 2:41 to go - a 28-5 run.

St. Norbert shot 53.1 percent (34-for-64) from the floor, including 18-for-29 (62.1 percent) in the second half. The Green Knights also canned 13 of 28 three-point field-goal attempts, good for 46.4 percent. Ciriacks led St. Norbert with 22 points, while Murphy came off the bench to add 20 points. Payant and Nolan Beirne each had 10 points. The Green Knights outrebounded Lake Forest 37-28.

Lake Forest shot 41.3 percent (19-for-46) from the floor and committed 19 turnovers. Sean Espinosa had a team-high 11 points, while Reece Taylor added 10 points.