St. Norbert College 81, UW-Stout 53 |
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DE PERE (December 30, 2019) - St. Norbert College broke open a close game with a 21-3 outburst over the first 11 minutes of the second half to down UW-Stout, 81-53, in the championship game of the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament hosted by St. Norbert Monday.
The Green Knights (7-2) led at halftime, 32-30, but went on the torrid run out of the locker room to take the suspense out of the outcome. The 28 point decision also took away much of the intrigue of the first time brothers from the two opposing teams played against each other. Blue Devil junior forward
Jon Ciriacks was facing his older brother Joe Ciriacks, a senior guard for St. Norbert.
With the exception of countless 1-on-1 contests in the family driveway in East Troy, Wis., this was the first time the two had met while playing competitively for opposing teams. The brothers played together in high school for three years. During the 2016 season, the brothers helped lead East Troy to the sectional final game, coming up one game short of reaching the state tournament.
Joe and the Green Knights held the upper hand, with Joe scoring a game-high 22 points, scoring 13 points in the second half. Jon finished the game with eight points after scoring six first half points.
Luke Geiger scored 10 points to lead Stout. Wade Geenan scored 13 points for St. Norbert.
St. Norbert shot 43.3 percent (26-60) from the floor and hit 9 of 23 3-point attempts. The Blue Devils were limited to 33.9 percent (21-62) from the floor and made 10 of 24 long range shots. The Knights made 20 of 24 free throws, while Stout was able to convert on only 1 of 9 free throws. St. Norbert held a 45-32 advantage off the glass.
Well aware of the unique circumstances concerning the two brothers, St. Norbert changed their method of introducing the first the visiting team's starters, followed by the home team starters to alternating the starting lineups, finishing with introducing the brothers as the final pair. Both brothers were selected to the all-tournament team.
The game marked the final non-conference game of the season for the Blue Devils. Stout will open conference play Saturday, Jan. 4 when they travel to UW-Platteville for a 7 p.m. start with the ninth-ranked Pioneers.
