DE PERE, Wis. – The Grinnell College men's basketball team gave third-ranked St. Norbert College all it could handle for much of Saturday night's Midwest Conference Tournament title game.
But in the end, the team ranked third nationally by D3hoops.com pulled away for a 91-73 victory and the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
Julian Marx '17 scored a team-high 18 points for the Pioneers, who finished at 15-10.
Jacob Ekstrand '18 added 12 points and
Jack Taylor '15 had 10.
Luke Yeager '15 and
Braedon Bayer '18 added four assists each.
Nick Curta '17 contributed seven boards.
St. Norbert advances with a 24-1 mark.
After St. Norbert took the early lead, Grinnell raced back and went up by five at 11-6 on a 3-pointer by Marx with 15:07 left in the first half.
But St. Norbert rallied, going up by as many as 12 before leading 45-35 at halftime.
After the hosts went up by 15 points, Grinnell again rallied and got within six on a trey by Marx with 8:50 remaining. However, St. Norbert took off on its way to victory.
