Contact: Lou Groce, Director of Media and Information, 920-229-8157

GRINNELL, Iowa – For the fifth consecutive season, the St. Norbert College men’s basketball team won the Midwest Conference (MWC) regular season title and earned the right to host the four-team conference tournament.  Ripon College and Cornell College will play in the first semifinal on Friday, followed by St. Norbert and Lake Forest College. 

The Red Hawks beat the Rams by seven points early in the season in Mount Vernon, before knocking off Cornell by 12 in Ripon in January. 

Ripon earned the No.2 seed after finishing 15-3 in conference action, including a victory over top-seeded St. Norbert that snapped their Division III-record 72-game conference winning streak.  The nation’s leading scorer, senior Ty Sabin, leads the way for Ripon.  Sabin averages 29.3 points per game and scored 53 points against Loras College earlier this season.  The two-time MWC Player of the Year is one of the best three-point shooters in the conference and ranks second in the league in made three-point field goals (71), while shooting 48 percent from beyond the arc. Sabin also ranks 12^th in the MWC in rebounds per game (5.7) and seventh in assists (3.1).    

Brendan McCoy is the only other Red Hawk that averages double figures in points per game (12.3).  McCoy is shooting an impressive 58.7 percent from long range and is 32-of-33 from the free throw line.  Isaac Masters, Koy Brecklin and Elliot Hoerdemann also frequent the starting lineup. 

The Rams are currently riding the conference’s longest winning streak (six games) as they make the trek to Green Bay this weekend.  It is Cornell’s first appearance in the MWC tournament since 1994 and last made the postseason as members of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2010.   

Cornell’s lineup features three of the league’s top eight scorers in Jon Anderson (16.7 ppg), Corey Davis (15.7 ppg) and Grant Anderson (15.4 ppg).  Davis is one of the better all-around players in the entire conference.  The junior ranks seventh in the league in scoring, 11^th in rebounding (5.8 rpg) and leads the league in assists (7.4 apg) and steals (2.7 spg).  Davis also ranks fourth in the conference in assist to turnover ratio (1.6:1).  Jon Anderson is the most efficient scorer in league and ranks second nationally in field goal percentage at 65.  Brad Hund and Craig Engle also make up the starting lineup for the third-seeded Rams, while Jan Siegien and Keegan Van Kooten are key contributors off the bench. 

In the other semifinal, St. Norbert will host the Foresters for the second time in 10 days.  The Green Knights, ranked 13^th in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, knocked off the Foresters by six points on Valentine’s Day in Green Bay and won by seven points at Lake Forest on February 8.  D.J. DeValk, the reigning MWC Performer of the Week, averages a team-best 15.4 ppg and leads the team in assists (4.7), blocks (19) and made three-pointers (54).  Ben Bobinski and Mitchell Reinthaler also average double figures at 13.6 and 12.1 ppg, respectively. 

The Green Knights rely heavily on their defense and allow just 57.9 points per game, which ranks second in Division III and only allow opponents to shoot 39.4 percent from the field.  St. Norbert and Lake Forest are the top two teams in the league in rebounding margin and defensive rebounding percentage, so the battle on the glass should be fierce. 

The Foresters’ Jim Schick nearly averages a double-double for the season with totals of 11.6 ppg and 9.0 rpg and leads the conference with 207 boards on the season.  Eric Porter leads the squad with 13.3 ppg and sophomore Danny Sotos averages 13 per game. Senior point guard Mike Rueffer provides a steady hand as he ranks third in the league in assist to turnover ratio (1.9:1) and leads the team in assists (3.2 apg), while scoring an average of 8.1 points per game. 

The Red Hawks and the Rams open the tournament with a 5:00 p.m. tip-off at the Kress Events Center, with the Green Knights and Foresters following at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.  The winners of the semifinal games will play at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.