Box Score Plagued by a poor shooting night, the Grinnell College men's basketball team suffered a 103-83 setback to St. Norbert College in the opening round of the Midwest Conference Tournament Friday night at Lake Forest College.

Grinnell made just 33 percent of its shots from the field and was just 21 percent from 3-point land.

Despite the loss, the Pioneers finished with their best winning percentage in the last 50 years. They wound up 18-5.

Patrick Maher '14 led the Pioneers with 20 points, while Griffin Lentsch '13 tallied 14. Maher also had three steals, Matt Skelly '12 added three assists and Jack Adams '14 blocked two shots.

With the win, St. Norbert improved to 16-8 and advanced to Saturday's title game against Carroll University.

Andrew Schwoerer led St. Norbert with 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Grinnell never led in the first half and was down by seven before Lentsch and Luke Yeager '15 hit back-to-back 3-pointers to bring the Pioneers within 17-16 with 11:21 left in the first half.

However, St. Norbert pulled away a bit and led 43-36 at halftime.

Consecutive treys by Lentsch brought Grinnell within one and Maher hit two free throws to give the Pioneers their first lead at 44-43 with 19:04 left.

Grinnell later led by three when Maher's layup made it 48-45 before St. Norbert again took the lead. There were two ties after that, the last at 54-all when Dylan Bartuch '15 sank a trey with 14:31 left.

But St. Norbert answered with a 10-0 run to go ahead 64-54 and never looked back.