(ST NORBERT COMMUNICATIONS) DE PERE – St. Norbert College gained a big win heading into a brief Christmas hiatus with a strong performance in an 85-69 triumph over UW-Oshkosh in a physical non-conference game at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.
The Green Knights (8-1), who have now won 11 of the last 16 meetings against the Titans (7-2), won their fifth in a row while snapping the visitors’ seven-game winning streak.
St. Norbert opened the game white-hot from the floor, connecting on its first 7 of 8 three-point field goal attempts over the first 5 minutes 12 seconds of the game. Oshkosh kept pace, trailing only 21-16 just over six minutes in. The Titans crept back into the game and forced a 27-27 tie with 9:05 left before halftime.
The Green Knights then put the clamps on Oshkosh, going on a 12-2 run for the rest of the first half. Jaeden Grade’s jumper got the run started, while Aidan Harrington’s putback at 7:19 made it 31-27. Garrett Grzesk (pictured) then finished at the rim for a six-point lead. Following an Oshkosh basket at the 4:44 mark, Cole Uhlenbrauck converted an open layup to boost the lead back to six points. Jamison Nickolai buried a 3-pointer and Grade split a pair of free throws to account for the rest of the run.
Oshkosh cut its deficit down to eight points twice early in the second half, the latter at 41-33 just over a minute into the period. Grzesk and Grade made consecutive 3-pointers to run the lead back to 14 points. The Titans would cut it back to 10 at 51-41 after a Michael Metcalf-Grassman conventional three-point play with 15:28 to go, but the visitor would get no closer the rest of the way. St. Norbert would open up a 17-point lead at 62-45 after a second-chance 3-pointer by Grzesk with 10:23 left. The Green Knights never led by less than 12 points in the final 10 minutes.
St. Norbert shot 51.8 percent (29-for-56) from the floor and 46.7 percent (14-for-30) from beyond the three-point arc. The Green Knights also had a commanding 41-28 rebounding advantage and had assists on 22 of their 29 made field goals. Grzesk finished with a career-high 24 points. Nickolai posted another big double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds while also getting five assists. Brandt Wilson added 13 points, Connor Pytleski 11 and Grade 10.
Oshkosh shot 36.7 percent (22-for-60) from he floor and 33.3 percent (10-for-33) from the perimeter. Metcalf-Grassman totaled 25 points, while Carter Thomas added 13 points.
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