Galesburg, IL – St. Norbert College started strong and came away with an 82-59 win against the Prairie Fire in Midwest Conference play on Saturday.

The MWC leading Green Knights (14-3, 11-2 MWC) have won 11 straight games and defeated Knox for the ninth straight time.

St. Norbert raced out to a 10-0 lead before the Prairie Fire (1-16, 1-11) answered with back-to-back baskets by senior Lukas Shaw (Portland, OR, U.S. Grant) to trim the deficit to 10-4 at the 14:35 mark.  The Green Knights increased the lead to 12-4 before Prairie Fire junior Chris McNichols (Skokie, IL, Niles West) sank a jumper that capped an 11-5 run to trail by just two at 17-15 with 11:00 left in the opening half.

St. Norbert reclaimed a double-digit lead at 33-21 with 4:35 to play before the break.  Knox cut it to 33-24 on its next possession when junior Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) drilled a 3-pointer.  However, that’s as close as the Prairie Fire would get as the Knights closed the half on a 13-2 run to lead 46-26 at the intermission.

St. Norbert shot 56% in the opening stanza and held Knox to 33% shooting.

The Knights scored the first three points of the second half, followed by a 5-0 Prairie Fire run – a 3-point bucket by sophomore Armand Stricklin (Lee Summit, MO, Lee Summit West) and a pair of free throws by Shaw -- to get within 18 at 49-31.

St. Norbert scored 13 of the next 17 points for its biggest lead of the game, 62-35, with 13:12 to play.  Knox couldn’t get any closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

The Green Knights hit on 52.5% from the floor, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range.  The Prairie Fire knocked down 5-of-13 attempts from long distance but shot 36% overall.

Both teams took good care of the basketball, combining for just 13 turnovers.

Shaw was the only Knox player in double-figures with 15 points.  Stricklin and Miller added nine points apiece.  Shaw and first-year Javaka Thompson (Chicago, IL, Whitney Young) shared team-high honors with five rebounds each.

Andrew Schwoerer led three St. Norbert players in double-figures with 16 points.  He also had seven rebounds. 

The Prairie Fire travels to play Grinnell College, which entered the week as the top scoring team in the nation at 117 points per game, on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.  The Pioneers trailed St. Norbert by one game for the lead in the Midwest Conference going into Saturday’s league games.

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