DE PERE, Wis. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team was unable to sustain a hot start in a 79-69 loss to host St. Norbert College on day one of the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament on Monday evening at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.
St. Olaf (5-6) raced out to a 22-13 lead over the first 10-plus minutes before going cold to close out the first half but trailed by just one at halftime. In the second half, St. Norbert (7-3) put up 51 points and shot 62.1 percent (18-for-29) from the field to top the Oles in the second-ever meeting between the two programs and advance to the championship game.
With the loss, St. Olaf will face North Central University in the consolation game at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 30 after the Rams fell by a 101-68 margin to third-ranked UW-La Crosse in the first game of the day. The Green Knights and Eagles will play for the tournament title at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Senior
Kobe Kirk scored a game-high 23 points for St. Olaf in his seventh 20-point performance of the season and his fourth in a row. Sophomore
AJ Uhl added 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while sophomore
Rex Lamb tallied 12 points, five rebounds, and two assists. First year
Max Kraay had nine of the Oles' 17 bench points.
Will Stuckey paced four St. Norbert scorers in double figures with 19 points and a game-high five assists, while Cole Uhlenbrauck – who entered the night shooting 5-for-36 (13.9 percent) from three-point range – had 16 points on 4-for-7 from behind the arc. Connor Pytleski and Cam Lathos combined for 20 points and 18 rebounds while helping the hosts to a 43-30 advantage on the glass. Mason Freiburger grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds – six on the offensive end – to go with eight points.
Facing a team that entered the night ranked No. 13 in NCAA Division III in scoring defense (63.9 points per game), St. Olaf hit nine of its first 15 shots over the first 10-plus minutes to surge out to a 22-13 lead. Playing minutes from his hometown, Uhl hit two three-pointers in the first 2:30 of the game before Kraay scored five points in the span of 59 seconds to cap the strong start.
After a layup by Kraay with 9:49 remaining, St. Norbert held St. Olaf scoreless for 4:42 until sophomore
Liam Madigan snapped the drought with a turnaround jumper that broke a 22-22 tie. Lamb followed with a three-pointer to put the Oles up by five, but St. Olaf went scoreless for the final 4:28 of the half after Lamb's bucket. Over the final 9:49 of the half, the Oles went just 2-for-18 (11.1 percent) from the field and scored five points but went into the break down by just one at 28-27.
After St. Olaf led for 16:24 and trailed for just 23 seconds in the opening half, St. Norbert never relinquished the lead over the final 20 minutes. The Green Knights started the second half on a 13-4 run over the first 3:37 – including three consecutive three-point makes by Uhlenbrauck – to open up a 41-31 lead. The Oles responded with five quick points on a three-pointer by Lamb and a layup by Kirk, but St. Norbert answered with a 7-0 run to go up by 12 with 13:58 remaining.
St. Olaf got its deficit back down to five with a 7-0 run and got within four at 64-60 with 5:00 to play on a layup by Uhl but could not get any closer. Both teams spent the majority of the final four-plus minutes at the free-throw line, as they combined for 33 free-throw attempts in the second half. St. Norbert, which entered the night shooting 29.1 percent as a team on three-pointers this season, was 9-for-18 (50.0 percent) from deep in the win, including going 6-for-10 (60.0 percent) in the second half.
