LA CROSSE, Wis. / PLATTEVILLE, Wis. --- St. Norbert College and Wisconsin Lutheran College both scored victories Friday in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship. The Green Knights held off a late charge to defeat No. 25 Carthage College, 92-89, while the 22nd-ranked Warriors dispatched No. 11 Calvin University, 73-61.

St. Norbert (22-6) advances to face regional host and No. 5-ranked University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (22-5) in a second-round contest at 6:50 p.m. Saturday evening at La Crosse Center. Meanwhile, Wisconsin Lutheran (25-3) will face its regional host, No. 2-ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville (25-2), at 7:10 p.m. Saturday on Bo Ryan Court at Williams Fieldhouse on the UW-Platteville campus.

The victory is the first in NCAA Tournament play for Wisconsin Lutheran (1-2), while St. Norbert improved to 7-10 all-time in the national tournament.

St. Norbert 92, Carthage 89
In a tale of two halves, St. Norbert shot 76.7 percent (23-of-30) from the field in the first half to build a 62-37 halftime lead. The Green Knights then proceeded to shoot just 31.8 percent (7-of-22) in the second half, opening the door for a furious comeback by the Firebirds.

St. Norbert looked to be in good shape, leading 73-48 with 11:22 to play on a Garrett Grzesk jumper. Carthage quickly found new life, responding with a 25-5 run over the next eight minutes to cut the Green Knight advantage to just 78-73 as the clock ticked inside 3:00 remaining.

The Green Knights got a conventional three-point play from Grzesk with 2:33 to go for an 83-74 lead. Carthage, which made eight three-point field goals in the final 11 minutes, cut it to five before a big 3-pointer from Jamison Nickolai with 1:22 left made it 88-80. The Firebirds continued their attack, trailing 89-87 after a Ryan Johnson trey with 12 seconds left. Follow a free throw, AJ Williams made two free throws for Carthage with 7 seconds left to make it 90-89. Grzesk then canned a pair of pressure-packed free throws for a three-point lead. Carthage brought the ball up quickly with St. Norbert trying to foul, but the ball was knocked loose and harmlessly rolled away as time expired.

St. Norbert shot 57.7 percent (30-for-52) from the floor and 24-for-33 (72.7 percent) at the free-throw line. The Green Knights had six players reach double figures in scoring. Grzesk led the way with 19 points, including 11 in the second half. Brandt Wilson had 17 points, while Nickolai added 15 points and nine rebounds. Connor Pytleski and Jaeden Grade came off the bench to each score 11 points, while Will Stuckey added 10 points. St. Norbert held a 35-28 rebounding advantage.
 
Carthage shot 49.2 percent (31-for-63) from the floor and was 13-for-31 (41.9 percent) from the perimeter. Johnson had a game-high 29 points, with 16 in the second half. Riley Brooks added 21 points.

Wisconsin Lutheran 73, Calvin 61
Calvin scored the first four points of the contest, but Wisconsin Lutheran took charge early on with a 25-2 run powered by 13 points from Ryan Broeckel. A 3-pointer from AJ Vos gave the Warriors a 25-6 lead with 9:19 to play in the opening half. The Knights rallied for seven straight points to cut the WLC advantage to 25-13 at the under-8:00 media timeout.

Calvin was able to get as close as 10 points (30-20) on a Uchenna Egekeze layup with 2:27 left in the first half, but five straight points from Broeckel and a 3-pointer from Grayson Goetz at the buzzer left WLC with a 38-20 halftime lead.

A Jacob Stoltz layup with 18:25 remaining gave the Warriors a 42-22 lead. Calvin managed to reduce the lead to 10 points on a handful of occasions in the second half, but could not get back within single digits.

Broeckel finished with 30 points on 11-of-17 shooting with four 3-pointers, while also pulling down 11 boards and blocking a pair of shots. Goetz added 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals, while Vos had 12 points and eight boards.

WLC shot 40.6 percent (26-of-64) from the field and 76.5 percent (13-of-17) from the free-throw line. The Warriors also drained eight 3-pointers and held a 43-34 advantage on the glass.

Owen Varnado led four Calvin players in double figures with 16 points. Egekeze added 12 points and Trevin Winkle 11, while Ty Horky chipped in with 10 points off the bench.