APPLETON, Wis. -- Ryan Kroeger drained a long 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to give the No. 16 Lawrence University men's basketball team the lead, and the Vikings held on for a 59-58 victory over St. Norbert College in Friday's semifinals of the Midwest Conference Tournament at Alexander Gymnasium.
Lawrence (21-2) advances to play Carroll College (15-8) in Saturday's 3:00 p.m. championship game. The winner receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Vikings led by as many as eight points in the second half, but St. Norbert (14-10) battled back and Lawrence hit a scoring drought in the final minutes. Lawrence went up 56-50 on Kroeger's layup with 4:44 remaining but wouldn't score again for the next 4:32.
Eric Bieniasz got a layup with 3:20 left to cut the lead to 56-52 and Mike Dowden hit two free throws to cut the lead to 56-54 with 2:38 left. Bieniasz then hit a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left to give St. Norbert a 57-56 edge, its first lead since early in the second half.
During this same stretch, Lawrence missed five shots from the floor and a pair of free throws.
After a missed layup by Andy Hurley, Bryan Fleischmann converted 1 of 2 free throws to give the Green Knights a 58-56 edge with 19 seconds left.
Kroeger then made his only 3-pointer of the game with 12 seconds left to put the Vikings up 59-58. Kroeger, who was 1-for-6 on 3-pointers, finished with 13 points. Tony Jandron missed a long jumper with two seconds left and Hurley grabbed the rebound.
Hurley was fouled immediately and missed both free throws, the second one intentionally. Bieniasz grabbed the rebound but his desperation heave was off the mark.
Hurley finished with a game-high 20 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Jandron paced St. Norbert with 17 points, and Mike Dowden added 10.