Monmouth punched their ticket to the Midwest Conference Championships for the second straight year with a 74-63 win over regular season champion St. Norbert.
 
The teams battled through 11 ties and 18 lead changes before the Scots took the lead for good on D.J. Swift's 3-pointer with 7:59 left in the game. The Green Knights were nursing a 32-30 halftime lead before Swift's bucket began Monmouth's final surge. The sophomore added another 3-ball on the next possession on his way to a 23-point afternoon. Will Carius followed with three straight bucket-and-one opportunities to open up a 70-58 lead with 3:00 left. The Knights cut the deficit to 70-63 on Wade Gennen's 3-ball with 1:30 left, but that would be as close at St. Norbert would get as Jonathan Orediegwu and Justin Batterton each went 2-for-2 from the line in the final 1:14 to hold off the Knights.
 
Carius joined Swift in double figures with 25 and Oradiegwu chipped in 10.
 
The two teams will meet again on Friday in the first round of the MWC Tournament in De Pere, Wis.