APPLETON, Wis. — The 20th-ranked St. Norbert College men’s basketball team battled to an 81-72 Midwest Conference victory over a scrappy Lawrence University squad Wednesday night at Alexander Gymnasium.
St. Norbert big man Steven Hofacker paced the Green Knights (11-1, 7-0 MWC) with 19 points and seven rebounds. Austin Elliott added 18 points and six assists for the Green Knights, who shot 65.1 percent (28-for-43) for the game.
Trace Sonnleitner led Lawrence (4-7, 2-4) and all scorers with 21 points. Jamie Nikitas added 19 points, and Ryan DePouw had 10 points and a team-high five assists.
Like a pair of heavyweight fighters, the teams traded haymakers in the first half. St. Norbert shot 17-for-24 from the floor in the first half, but Lawrence was 15-for-29 from the floor and hit eight 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.
Sonnleitner scored 17 points and went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc to keep the Vikings close in the first half. St. Norbert built a seven-point lead late in the first half, but Sonnleitner hit a jumper and Jamie Nikitas had a three-point play to trim the advantage to 43-39 at the break.
St. Norbert went on a 12-5 run to open the second half as Hofacker scored six points during that burst. Lawrence chipped away at the lead and cut it to 68-62 on a pair of Sonnleitner free throws with 5:34 left.
Mitch Winter answered with a 3-pointer for St. Norbert and Andrew Schwoerer hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 72-62 with 4:17 remaining. Lawrence cut the lead to seven on a pair of occasions after that, but St. Norbert hit six consecutive free throws in the final 58 seconds to seal the victory.