DE PERE, Wis. -- The 19th-ranked Lawrence University men's basketball team outscored St. Norbert College 15-6 in the final three minutes Wednesday to post a 65-56 Midwest Conference victory over the Green Knights at Schuldes Sports Center.
Ryan Kroeger scored 15 points to lead three Lawrence players in double figures. Andy Hurley added 14 points and Doug Kadison had 13 for Lawrence (14-1, 9-0 MWC). St. Norbert (10-7, 6-4) was led by Tom Katzfey's 13 points.
The win keeps Lawrence in first place and unbeaten in conference play. The loss knocked the Green Knights out of second place.
Lawrence trailed by as many as eight points early in the second half (32-24), but the Vikings went on an 11-0 run to grab a 35-32 lead with 15:55 remaining. Kroeger scored seven point in that stretch with a layup, a three-point play, and a pair of free throws.
Eric Bieniasz's layup finally broke the drought for the Green Knights, and the game would remain tight until the game's final minutes.
The score was tied at 50-50 when Kadison drilled a 3-pointer with 3:08 remaining. Kadison finished 5-for-6 from the floor, including 3-for-4 on 3-pointers. Kadison followed that with a steal and layup to give Lawrence a 55-50 edge with 2:29 left.
Katzfey answered with a jumper for the Green Knights, but Hurley took a pass from Kadison and converted a layup with 1:37 left to push the lead back to five.
Katzfey hit another jumper and was fouled on the play with 1:18 left but failed to make the free throw, and Lawrence led 57-54.
It became a free-throw shooting contest the rest of the way, as Lawrence went 8-for-8 from the foul line in the final 51 seconds to seal the victory.
Lawrence, which hosts second-place Carroll College on Saturday, led 14-3 early in the contest, but St. Norbert finished the first half by outscoring the Vikings 27-10 to take a 30-24 lead at the break.