APPLETON, Wis. -- Junior guard Ryan Kroeger passed the 1,000-point plateau on Wednesday, as the 18th-ranked Lawrence University men's basketball team beat St. Norbert College 69-61 in a Midwest Conference game Wednesday at Alexander Gymnasium.
Kroeger finished with 14 points and now has 1,005 for his career. Andy Hurley also scored 14 points for the Vikings (19-2, 14-1 MWC), and he grabbed nine rebounds. Chris Page added 12 points and nine boards for Lawrence.
Mike Dowden led the Green Knights (14-9, 10-6) with 14 points. Tom Katzfey had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Bryan Fleischmann added 12 points.
St. Norbert jumped out to a 17-10 lead in the first eight minutes, but Lawrence went on a 13-3 run at that point. Lawrence took its first lead of the game when Ben Rosenblatt buried a 3-pointer with 4:30 left in the first half to go up 20-19. Rosenblatt then hit another 3-pointer 35 seconds later.
After Dowden's layup stopped the bleeding, Lawrenced finished the first half with eight unanswered points to lead 31-21 at the break. John Dekker hit a 3-pointer and added a pair of free throws in that half-ending outburst.
Lawrence then opened the second half with a 12-4 run, with Page scoring six points and Rosenblatt and Kroeger adding 3-pointers, to put Lawrence up 43-25 with 15:25 left. That 18-point bulge would be Lawrence's largest of the game.
The Green Knights countered by scoring the game's next 10 points, and St. Norbert would then slowly close to five points at 58-53 with 4:35 left. The teams traded baskets from that point, and Lawrence led 63-55 on Kroeger's jumper with 1:22 left. Tony Jandron hit a 3-pointer for St. Norbert, and the Green Knights were then forced to foul.
Lawrence then hit six consecutive free throws in the final 43 seconds to seal the victory.
Lawrence wraps up the regular season on Saturday when it travels to Carroll College. Lawrence will then host the Midwest Conference Tournament on Feb. 29-March 1.