Box Score

De Pere, Wis. – The Prairie Fire struggled to score against the stingy defense of #8 ranked St. Norbert College in an 87-51 Midwest Conference loss on Saturday.

The Green Knights (17-1, 13-0 MWC), who top the MWC in scoring defense (64.4 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (42.3 percent), held Knox to 7-of-25 (28 percent) shooting and built a 36-18 halftime lead.

Knox (1-16, 0-12 MWC) got off to a good start, scoring the first four points of the game on baskets by seniors Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) and David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy/Air Force Academy).  St. Norbert followed with a 12-0 run that Jones halted with a jumper -- ending a 5:23 scoring drought -- to cut the Green Knight advantage to 12-6 at the 13:03 mark.

The Green Knights took their first double-digit lead at 16-6 before another basket by Jones trimmed the deficit to 16-8 with 11:35 remaining in the half.

St. Norbert stretched the lead to 20-8 when first-year Mike Martin (Metamora, IL, Metamora) sank a 3-pointer to close the gap to single digits again at 20-11 with 8:50 before the break.

The Green Knights rolled off 12 consecutive points for a 32-11 lead, their largest of the half.  The Prairie Fire ended the run and a 6:15 stretch without a point on a long-range bucket by first-year Marcellis Davis (Chicago, IL, Curie).

First-year Deandre Weathersby (Chicago, IL, Kenwood Academy) scored four straight points to help Knox get a little closer at 34-18 with 1:34 left.  SNC closed out the half with an offensive rebound and basket for an 18 point cushion.

St. Norbert opened the second stanza with a 9-0 run for a 45-18 lead.  Jones hit a jumper for the Fire to make it 45-20 with 16:34 to play.  A trey by Martin reduced the SNC lead to 47-23 about a minute later, but the Green Knights closed the door with six straight points to go up by 33 (56-23).

The Prairie Fire connected on 6-of-11 attempts 3-point range in the second half and finished the game with eight.  However, Knox shot 31 percent overall while the Knights hit on 46 percent from the field – including 51 percent after halftime.

St. Norbert also had its way on the glass.  The Green Knights held a 53-30 rebounding edge, 25 of the caroms on the offensive end that helped lead to 22 second chance points.

Jones led the Prairie Fire with 12 points.  Martin added nine points, a team-high six rebounds, and two blocks.  Davis chipped in with eight points off the bench.

Andrew Schwoerer scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to pace St. Norbert.

SNC ran its winning streak to 15 and has a four game lead in the Midwest Conference standings with five to play.
Knox goes from playing against the best defense in the conference to facing the highest scoring offense in the nation when Grinnell College visits Memorial Gymnasium on Wednesday.

The Pioneers (14-4, 9-4 MWC) were averaging 121.6 points going into their 100-95 MWC victory at Lake Forest College on Saturday.  The Prairie Fire lost at Grinnell 124-85 in the first meeting between the teams this season on January 8.

The game between Knox and Grinnell tips off at 5:30 p.m. and will be streamed live online at client.stretchinternet.com/client/knox.portal#/