WAUWATOSA, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- St. Norbert College used a strong second half to overcome a nine-point halftime deficit en route to a 71-59 win over Wisconsin Lutheran College in the championship match of the 2023 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Men's Basketball Tournament at the Time of Grace Center.
The second-seeded Green Knights (19-7) outscored the top-seeded Warriors (19-8), 44-23, over the final 20 minutes to secure the victory and claim the NACC's automatic berth in the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.
After a fairly even first 10 minutes of the game, Wisconsin Lutheran used a 6-0 run to turn a one-point deficit into a five-point lead with 8:19 left. St. Norbert pulled to within a pair at 25-23 on a Jamison Niciolai 3-pointer at the 4:07 mark, but the hosts scored 11 of the next 13 points to build an 11-point lead in the waning seconds of the half. A layup by Michael Payant with five seconds left gave the Green Knights a lift headed into the break despite trailing 36-27.
St. Norbert started the second half on a 13-4 run with an Evan Glaser layup knotting the score at 40-all at the 14:10 mark. Jacob Stoltz drained a 3-pointer to give WLC the lead back briefly, but the Green Knights responded with nine in a row behind four points from Nickolai and a 3-pointer from Garrett Greszk that put SNC in the lead for good with 11:45 to play.
A 3-pointer from WLC's Trevor Stiede trimmed the advantage to just a single point at 49-48 with 9:28 remaining, but another 13-4 run by St. Norbert pushed the lead back out to double-digits with 3:27 left on the clock.
The Green Knights made 11 of 13 free throws down the stretch to close out the game.
St. Norbert shot 43.1 percent (22-of-51) in the game, including an even 50 percent (11-of-22) in the second half, and held a commanding 49-31 advantage on the boards. The Green Knights also locked down at the free-throw line, connecting on 22 of 24 attempts (91.7 percent).
Wisconsin Lutheran matched St. Norbert in terms of made field goals (22), but was only able to connect at a 31.0 percent (22-of-71) clip.
Carter Gebler led four Green Knights in double figures with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Payant (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Nickolai (14 points, 10 rebounds) both added double-doubles, while Glaser (14 points, nine rebounds) just missed the mark.
Ryan Broeckel led WLC with 22 points, seven rebounds, four blocks, and three assists, while Simeon Strauss had 10 points and six rebounds. Grayson Goez, Jacob Hefle, Jacob Stoltz, and Trevor Stiede each had six points.
The entire 64-team field and regional assignments for the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship will be announced during the annual selection show which will be streamed live on NCAA.com at noon (CT) Monday, Feb. 27.