(ST NORBERT COMMUNICATIONS) MILWAUKEE – St. Norbert College held nationally ranked Wisconsin Lutheran College to 16 second-half points and charged to a 70-52 win in the championship game of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament at Time of Grace Center.
The Green Knights (22-6), winners of their last 12 games, punched their ticket for their 11th all-time NCAA Division III Tournament appearance with the NACC’s automatic qualifier. Wisconsin Lutheran (25-3), ranked No. 17 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, saw its 29-game home-court winning streak snapped but is expected to receive an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. Selections will be announced at 11 a.m. Monday at NCAA.com.
St. Norbert got off to a good start, using an 11-0 run to turn an early 9-7 deficit into an 18-9 lead after Brandt Wilson’s layup with 10:08 left in the half. Wisconsin Lutheran went on a quick 8-0 run but the Green Knights countered with a 7-0 spurt finished by Jamison Nickolai’s 3-pointer for a 25-17 edge with 6:40 left. The Warriors came again with a 9-0 run to take a 26-25 lead with 4:31 to go and the overall run eventually went to 15-2 for a 32-27 Wisconsin Lutheran lead at the 2:55 mark. The Warriors took a 36-31 advantage into halftime.
Wisconsin Lutheran led 41-36 with 16:54 remaining, but the St. Norbert defense then locked down the Warriors, yielding just 11 points the rest of the game. St. Norbert led 44-43 when Garrett Grzesk’s putback got the decisive stretch started for the visitor. Grzesk added two free throws and Nickolai finished at the rim for a 50-43 lead with 10:14 to go. After a Wisconsin Lutheran hoop, the Green Knights then went on a 10-2 run to pull away. Nickolai started the run with a pair of layups. The Warriors scored at the 7:07 mark to make it 54-47, but Wilson then finished both ends of a 1-and-1 and finished at the glass and Will Stuckey’s successful 1-and-1 put St. Norbert up 60-47 with 4:29 to go.
The Warriors got two more free throws with 3:42 to go, but St. Norbert salted the game away down the stretch on baskets by Connor Pytleski, Nickolai and a banked-in 3-pointer from Grzesk on the Green Knights’ final possession.
St. Norbert shot 50.9 percent from the floor, converting 27 of 53 field-goal attempts. Nickolai, named the NACC Tournament Most Valuable Player, finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Wilson added 16 points and nine rebounds and Grzesk added 12 points, with both also being named to the All-Tournament Team. Stuckey chipped in with six points and seven rebounds, while Pytleski had nine points off the bench.
Wisconsin Lutheran shot 17-for-58 (29.3 percent) and was 5-for-32 (15.6 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. The Warriors were 6-for-28 (21.4 percent) from the floor and 1-for-15 (6.7 percent) from distance in the second half. Ryan Broeckel was the only Warrior to reach double figures in scoring with 16 points
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