(ST. NORBERT COMMUNICATIONS) DE PERE – St. Norbert College wasn’t hampered by a slow start against Rockford University, coming back to defeat the Regents 75-61 behind a strong second half in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament quarterfinal game at Mulva Family Fitness and Sports Center.
The Green Knights (20-6, 16-2 NACC) have now won 20 games for the 11th time under Gary Grzesk and are in the NACC semifinals for a fifth consecutive season.
St. Norbert advances to host Aurora University on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a semifinal game.
The Regents opened the game leading 22-12 in the middle of the first half until an 11-0 run led by Cam Lathos (pictured) put the Green Knights up 25-22 with 7:22 left in the half. Rockford did take a small 31-30 lead back with about four minutes left in the half, but thanks to a 9-0 run, with seven coming from Cole Uhlenbrauck, St. Norbert went up 39-31. A trey from Connor Pytleski just before the buzzer gave the Green Knights a 42-34 lead at the half.
A 14-3 run started the second half for St. Norbert, who allowed just one field goal in the opening 10 minutes of the half. Jaeden Grade went on a run for the Green Knights in the second half, scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 field goal attempts and grabbing several second chance opportunities.
St. Norbert held a 24-point lead for a time in the second half, with the Regents only being able to chip away the lead at the free throw line and cutting it down to a 71-59 disadvantage with 90 seconds left to play.
St. Norbert shot 58 percent from the floor (29-for-50). Lathos led the Green Knights with 15 points off the bench while Pytleski had 13 points. Grade had 10 points while Uhlenbrauck had nine.
Rockford shot 34.5 percent from the floor (20-for-58) and were held to just seven field goals in the second half. DeVon Oregon led the Regents with 23 points.
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