(ST NORBERT COMMUNICATIONS) – AURORA, Ill. – St. Norbert College took a massive step forward in the race for the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season championship with a 87-79 win over Aurora University at Thornton Gymnasium.
The Green Knights (18-5, 15-1 NACC) broke Aurora’s 17-game winning streak, which was longest in the program’s history, leading by 10 points at halftime and holding off a late rally to take back first place in the conference.
The Green Knights opened the game with a 19-6 run, with Connor Pytleski, Ryan Cox and Cole Uhlenbrauck connecting from three. The hot hand of Uhlenbrauck was vital, as he sunk three of the five 3-pointers. After a fourth trey from Uhlenbrauck, the Spartans fought back to a 22-13 deficit which was quickly silenced by several paint points from Charlie Geske and Mason Freiburger.
Aurora managed to get back within five points with five minutes to go in the first half until a 10-4 St. Norbert run gave the Green Knights a 44-33 halftime lead.
Whenever it seemed the Spartans got the lead down to single digits in the second half, Will Stuckey (pictured) was there to stop them in their tracks. The sophomore scored nine points in the first ten minutes of the second half, with several of his makes giving the Green Knights a double-digit lead back.
Aurora eventually got it down to 74-69 with just under five minutes to play. Five quick points from Pytleski regained a 79-72 lead, leading to Aurora unable to recover. Free throws from Stuckey and Pytleski iced the game even further, as they combined for eight makes in the last 90 seconds.
St. Norbert shot 46 percent from the floor (29-for-63) and 52.6 percent from three (10-for-19). Stuckey led the Green Knights with 25 points and five assists, while Pytleski had 18 points and seven rebounds. Uhlenbrauck also had 18 points, shooting 4-of-6 from three.
Aurora shot 42.4 percent from the floor (28-for-66) and were held to just two 3-pointers by St. Norbert. Juan Madrigal led the Spartans with 21 points.
Hockey
Men
APPLETON – St. Norbert College wrapped up the regular season with a 5-0 win over Lawrence University in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at Appleton Ice Arena.
The Green Knights (17-6-2, 13-3-2 NCHA) clinched the No. 2 seeding for the upcoming NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs. St. Norbert will host Concordia University Wisconsin in a quarterfinal-round series at 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21 at Cornerstone Community Center in De Pere.
St. Norbert got all the scoring it would eventually need when Ryan Gingher scored 3:26 into the game for the first period’s only goal.
The Green Knights pulled away later in the second period after Gustav Portillo scored at 13:29 and Blake Ulve added a power-play goal at 18:14 for a 3-0 lead. St. Norbert added two more goals in the third period, with Ben Edwards scoring at 9:30 and Braydon Beahm an unassisted marker at 19:13.
Hunter Garvey (pictured) made 22 saves to fashion his third shutout of the season. St. Norbert outshot Lawrence 45-22.
Portillo finished with one goal and one assist for two points, while Ethan Byrne had two assists for two points.
St. Norbert was 1-for-1 on the power play, while Lawrence was 0-for-4.
Women
DE PERE – St. Norbert College concluded its regular season with a 5-0 thrashing of Lawrence University in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at Resch Olympic Pavilion.
The Green Knights (15-8-2, 12-4-2 NCHA) swept the Vikings with a second consecutive game of the same scoreline. It was also the fourth straight shutout for St. Norbert to end the regular season.
Emma Stebbeds (pictured) scored the lone goal of the first period off a Briar Charchenko assist at 5:30. The Green Knights held the Vikings with no shots on goal in the first 20 minutes. Emily Bill made it 2-0 on a power play at 13:46 in the second period, while another goal on a power play from Anika Fortin at 13:46 in the third period made Lawrence experience deja vu all over again.
Grace Wittkopf scored at 16:38 in the third to make it 4-0 while Hannah Grabianowski put the icing on the cake on a unassisted goal at 18:10 for a large senior day victory.
St. Norbert held the Vikings to just six goals on target, outshooting Lawrence 46-6 overall. Keira Markella made most of her six stops in the third period, where the Vikings had five. Ella Sciborski made 41 saves for Lawrence.
The Green Knights went 2-for-3 on the power play while Lawrence was 0-for-2.
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