DE PERE, Wis.- UW-Oshkosh men's basketball dropped just its second game of the season against St. Norbert College at the Green Knights' Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center on Saturday (Dec. 21). St. Norbert outscored the Titans, 85-69.
 
UW-Oshkosh (7-2), which is receiving votes in the most recent D3hoops.com national poll, scored 22 of its points in the paint, 15 off the bench, and 12 on fast breaks. The Titans shot 36.7 percent (22-of-60) from the field, 33.3 percent (10-of-30) from three, and 71.4 percent (15-of-21) from the line while recording 28 rebounds (eight offensive), nine assists, and out-stealing the Green Knights (8-1, 5-0 NACC), 8-4.
 
For the seventh game of the season, Michael Metcalf-Grassman (So. • Shawano/Waukesha) scored at least 20 points. He shot 8-of-15 from the field, 2-of-5 from three, and 7-of-9 from the line for 25 points and added seven rebounds (three offensive) and five assists.
 
Carter Thomas (Jr. • Neenah) joined Metcalf-Grassman with double-digit points, tallying 13 on 4-of-12 from the field, including 3-of-9 from three and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. He led the field with three steals.
 
Metcalf-Grassman sunk a pair of free throws after St. Norbert opened scoring with a 3-pointer in the first minute of play. Joey LaChapell (Fr. • Appleton) and Metcalf-Grassman brought UW-Oshkosh within a point twice more early with threes of their own before back-to-back Green Knight triples put them up by seven.
 
Brandon Beck (Fr. • Rockton, Ill.) hit UW-Oshkosh's third and fourth straight 3-pointers in consecutive possessions during the fifth minute of the first half, pulling Oshkosh within an 18-14 deficit with 15:19 to go.
 
With just under 11 minutes remaining in the first half, Thomas made yet another three, bring the score to 24-25 before Beck tied the game at 27-27 on another.
 
St. Norbert held the Titans to a Jonah Rindfleisch (Sr. • Milwaukee) jumper over the last nine minutes while adding 12 points and led 39-29 at the half.
 
To open the second half, Metcalf-Grassman tallied all of UW-Oshkosh's first seven points, however the Green Knights scored 12 before another Titan tallied points. Thomas converted a pair of free throws and Metcalf-Grassman scored all three points of an and-one opportunity, decreasing the deficit to 51-41.
 
The Titans put together multiple short runs while the Green Knights did the same to creep to a game-high 18-point edge with just over two minutes left to play.
 
The final two of UW-Oshkosh's 10 3-pointers were scored by Thomas at 2:01 and Metcalf-Grassman at 1:29. St. Norbert put together four points on free throws in the last two minutes.
 
The Titans will host the annual BSN Winter Classic with women's basketball, next Sunday and Monday (Dec. 29-30). UW-Oshkosh will face No. 12 nationally ranked Keene State College (N.H.) (6-1) at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 29 and Hamline University (Minn.) (6-4) at 5 p.m. on Dec. 30.