Grinnell moved to 12-0 on the season and 5-0 in Midwest Conference action Saturday with a 114-11 win over St. Norbert. It was the second day of games for each team, as Grinnell was coming off an overtime victory over Ripon and St. Norbert won at Monmouth. Both teams showed weary legs throughout the contest, as shooting percentages fell below average.
The Pioneers were without third leading scorer Ken Heiser ’04 (12.8 ppg) who sustained an injury early in the game against Ripon. His status for this week’s games remains undetermined. Meanwhile leading scorer Steve Wood ’04 had only 14 points, 15.9 off his average. But with the “System” anyone can come through in a given game.
While Steve Nordlund ’04 provided punch with 26 points, Trey Raney ’05 knocked down five three’s and finished with 15 points, well above his 6.2 ppg average. Nick Malinowski ’04 also found his touch and exploded for 21 points (his average is 9.8) and six key offensive rebounds.
St. Norbert saw Brandon Hansen notch 34 points, while Aaron Faulkner contributed 22. The Knights shot only 58.7%, which against Arseneault’s tactics is below average. The Pioneers were also off, hitting only 20 of 77 three-point attempts, but shot a hot 83.9% from the freethrow line (26 of 31).
With 12:01 to play, Grinnell led by 17 points (89-72). The Knights then went on a 25 to 9 run over the next 6:45 to take a one point lead on a Hansen three-point basket (98-97). Patrick Choquette ’04 made two freethrows to give the Pioneers the lead again, but Faulkner responded with a basket that put the visitors back up by one.
That’s when Nordlund took over and coolly knocked down a three to put Grinnell up by two and give his team a lead it would not relinquish: 102-100 with 4:46 in the game. St. Norbert did pull within one on a Faulkner three-pointer with :28 to go, but Nordlund responded by hitting two of two freethrows to give the Pioneers the winning points.
It was a milestone day for Wood, as he went over the 2,000-point mark for his career. With 11 regular-season games remaining, he can catch Grinnell’s all-time leader, Jeff Clement ’99 who holds the record of 2,229.
The road – literally – gets tougher this week as Grinnell plays Tuesday at Knox (7:30), Friday at Carroll (5:00) and Saturday at current co-league leader Lawrence (2:00). Fans won’t be able to see the team in Darby until Friday, January 30 and Saturday the 31st when Beloit (5:00) and Carroll (2:00 Saturday) come to Grinnell.
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