Box Score
St. Norbert College held on to first place in the Midwest Conference after hanging on to beat the Prairie Fire Saturday at Memorial Gym.
The #15 Green Knights (11-3, 7-2 MWC) withstood a furious second half rally by the Fire and came away with a 68-59 victory. St. Norbert capped off a 2-0 weekend by winning 87-73 Friday night at Illinois College to remain a game up in the win column on the Blueboys and Lawrence University in the conference race.
The Prairie Fire (1-13, 0-9 MWC) led 6-5 when sophomore Ian Horvath (Addison, Illinois) splashed a jumper through the net with 14:17 to play in the first half. St. Norbert's Chris Peterson answered with a basket less than a minute later to give the Knights a one point lead. The bucket was the start of a 19-10 run by the Green Knights to close out the half with a 26-16 lead at the intermission.
Defense dominated the first half. St. Norbert held Knox to 6-of-23 (26 percent) shooting while the Knights connected on 8-of-23 (35 percent) from the floor.
Both offenses woke up in the second half, combining to score 85 points.
The Prairie Fire cut the St. Norbert lead to three at 32-29 during the first 4:15 of the second half. The Knights built the lead back up to six at 35-29 with 15:02 to play when the Fire rallied. Sophomore Lukas Shaw (Portland, Oregon) scored six of the Prairie Fire's points during an 11-5 run that tied the game at 40-40 with 10:28 to go. Knox had a chance to break the tie and take the lead when Shaw missed the second of two free throws.
The Prairie Fire again had a chance to grab the lead with the game tied at 42-42, but first-year forward David Jones (Denver, Colorado) missed the front end of a one-and-one. St. Norbert's Steve Papke scored inside at the 9:40 mark, the start of a 9-0 run that put the Knights up 51-42 with 7:37 to play.
The Fire made another run at the Green Knights over the final 3:30 and St. Norbert leading 58-48. An 8-1 surge brought the hosts within striking distance at 59-56 with 2:22 left in the game. The Knights held the Prairie Fire to a field goal and a free throw the rest of the way while making 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to earn the win.
Knox shot 60 percent in the second half and 44 percent (21-of-48) overall. St. Norbert connected for 56.5 percent (13-of-23) from the floor in the second half and wound up at 46 percent (21-of-46) for the game. Both teams struggled from three-point range with the Knights shooting 1-of-13 and Knox 4-of-16. The difference was at the foul line, where SNC outscored the Prairie Fire 25-13.
Papke paced St. Norbert with 17 points. Peterson and David Wipperfurth added 15 points apiece.
Shaw had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Prairie Fire. Junior Tanner Carlson (Annawan, Illinois) chipped in with 10 points and six assists.
Knox plays the next two games on the road -- Friday night at Lawrence University (7-6, 6-2 MWC) and Saturday afternoon at Beloit College (4-9, 3-5 MWC).
