APPLETON, Wis. — The No. 8 St. Norbert College men’s basketball team pulled away late and held on for a 79-69 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Wednesday at Alexander Gymnasium.
Kam Cerroni and Austin Elliott scored 21 points apiece to lead the Green Knights (18-1, 14-0 MWC), who clinched a share of the conference title. Andrew Schwoerer added 20 points for St. Norbert.
Ryan DePouw scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds to pace Lawrence (8-10, 6-7). Brian Gryszkiewicz added 14 points and four assists, and Max Burgess came off the bench to score 12 points for the Vikings.
Lawrence had its last lead of the game at 49-48 on Gryszkiewicz’s layup with 14:40 remaining. The Green Knights went on an 11-2 run to grab a 59-51 edge with 9:59 left. Jamie Nikitas then hit a 3-pointer for Lawrence to trim the margin to 59-54 with 8:16 left.
St. Norbert scored the game’s next seven points, capped by Schwoerer’s layup, to take a 66-54 lead with 6:16 remaining. Lawrence, which led by as many as 10 points in the first half, battled back to trim the lead to 72-64 on a pair of DePouw free throws with 2:04 remaining.
The Green Knights then hit five free throws and got a layup in the final 1:54 to seal the victory.
St. Norbert really won the game at the foul line where it enjoyed a huge advantage. The Green Knights, who were whistled for only 11 fouls, went 22-for-28 from the stripe while Lawrence shot only six free throws on the evening.
Lawrence took away some of that advantage by connecting from long range. The Vikings went 13-for-28 from 3-point range with Burgess going 4-for-6 to lead the way.