Second Half Dooms St. Norbert in MWC Tournament Championship

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, February 29, 2020 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College couldn't hold on to a seven-point halftime lead and eventually fell 84-71 to Ripon College in the championship game of the Midwest Conference Tournament at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The Green Knights (23-4) are hopeful for one of the 18 at-large berths into the 64-team NCAA Division III Tournament, with the selections announced at 11:30 a.m. Monday on NCAA.com. Ripon (20-7) earned the MWC's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

St. Norbert had a strong final eight minutes of the first half, closing the half on a 20-10 run after trailing 20-17 with 8:44 left in the period. Jacob Bolwerk and Michael Payant hit 3-pointers followed by a Connor Curtis hoop for a 26-20 lead with 5:50 left. Another 3-pointer by Bolwerk and a layup by Murphy put St. Norbert ahead 32-22 with 3:44 to go. The Red Hawks got to within four but St. Norbert canned 3 of 4 free throws to take a 37-30 halftime lead.

The Green Knights pushed the lead back up to 10 points at 43-33 with 18:29 left after 3-pointers by Connor Curtis and Wade Geenen. St. Norbert was whistled for six fouls in the first 3:29 of the half, putting Ripon in the bonus the rest of the game. St. Norbert led 49-47 after a Jared Murphy layup with 13:40 left, but Ripon would score the next seven points and hold the lead the rest of the game. A Curtis hoop with 10:58 left got the Green Knights within 56-53 but a 9-0 run by Ripon gave the Red Hawks control, with St. Norbert not getting closer than nine the rest of the way.

St. Norbert shot 37.3 percent (22-for-59) from the floor, and was just 10-for-34 (29.4 percent) in the second half. Murphy led the Green Knights with 20 points, while Curtis added 11 points.

Ripon shot 52.7 percent (29-for-55) from the floor and was 19-for-23 (82.6 percent) at the free-throw line, with all the charity tosses coming in the second half. Trent Jones led the Red Hawks with 24 points, while Owen Theune added 21 points and 10 rebounds.