Big Second Half Pushes St. Norbert Past Ripon

From Sports Information Director, January 9, 2010 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIPON - A 41-point second half was more than enough to keep St. Norbert College unbeaten in the Midwest Conference with a hard-fought 66-52 win over rival Ripon College at the Storzer Center.

The Green Knights, ranked 16th by D3hoops.com's Top 25, improved to 10-1 overall and 4-0 in the MWC while winning their fifth-straight game against Ripon. The Red Hawks fell to 6-3, 2-1.

Ripon led 26-25 at halftime before the Green Knights opened the second half on a 17-6 run over the first nine minutes. St. Norbert scored on its first three possessions of the second half on baskets by Dave Wipperfurth, Chris Peterson and Steve Papke for a 31-26 lead. After a Ripon basket, Paul Mallers hit a jumper and Peterson canned a 3-pointer to push the bulge to 36-28. Peterson's 3-pointer with 11:18 finished the run and gave St. Norbert a 43-32 lead. The Red Hawks would not get closer than eight points the rest of the way.

St. Norbert shot 56.7 percent (17-for-30) from the floor in the second half. The Green Knights shot 46.4 percent (26-for-56) from the floor for the game and held a 39-29 rebounding edge. Wipperfurth led St. Norbert with 17 points, while Peterson added 16 points. John Taylor had four points from his point guard spot with six rebounds, nine assists and three steals in 37 minutes.

Ripon was held to 38.3 percent (23-for-60) shooting for the game and was 12-for-35 (34.3 percent) in the second half. Aris Wurtz led Ripon with 18 points, while Scott Gillespie had 15 points and eight assists.