DE PERE, Wis. — The St. Norbert College men’s basketball team used a 9-0 run in the second half Wednesday to pull away and went on to an 82-62 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Schuldes Sports Center.
Jamie Nikitas and Mitch Willer both recorded double-doubles for the Vikings (5-6, 2-4 MWC). Nikitas, one of the nation’s scoring leaders, poured in a game-high 26 points to go with 10 rebounds and four assists. Willer added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
D.J. DeValk paced St. Norbert (10-2, 7-0) with 17 points, and Ben Bobinski added 14 points and eight rebounds.
St. Norbert led by as many as 14 points in the first half, and Willer’s layup at the buzzer cut the margin to 41-29 at the half.
The Vikings continued to eat into that lead to start the second half. Nikitas started the half with a three-point play and then drained back-to-back 3-pointers as part of a 9-2 run to trim the margin to 43-38. The teams traded baskets with Willer’s layup cutting the lead to 45-40 with 16:37 left.
The Green Knights then scored the game’s next nine points with DeValk sandwiching a pair of 3-pointers around one from Bobinski to give St. Norbert a 54-40 edge.
The Vikings got the lead down to 11 points twice after that, the last time on a 3-pointer from Troy Miller with 10:36 left, but could get no closer.
St. Norbert would lead by as many as 23 points before settling for the final margin of 20.
The Vikings played without starter Pete Winslow, who was injured this past Saturday against Grinnell College.