Second-half surge rallies St. Norbert past Lawrence

DE PERE, Wis. — The St. Norbert College men’s basketball team pulled away midway through the second half and went on to a 68-54 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Tuesday at Schuldes Sports Center.

Andrew Schwoerer paced St. Norbert (15-3, 12-2 MWC) with a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Conor Klusendorf led Lawrence (8-10, 6-7) with 15 points, and Chris Siebert added 13 points for the Vikings.

The teams traded the lead throughout the first half, and Lawrence led 28-27 at the break. After Jamie Nikitas hit a jumper for the Vikings with 13:32 left in the game, St. Norbert’s lead was cut to 40-39.

The Green Knights then hit back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 46-39 with 11:40 remaining. Klusendorf countered with a jumper to trim the lead to five, but that’s as close as the Vikings would get.

St. Norbert went on a 12-2 run that expanded its lead to 60-44 with 7:29 remaining. The Vikings went 0-for-5 from the floor during that stretch and got their only two points on a pair of Siebert free throws.

The Green Knights, who put on a dominating performance on the glass to the tune of 50-25 rebounding edge, would expand their lead to as many as 19 points.

Lawrence returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Illinois College.

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