Will Nixon, left, and Kyle Wuest combined for 45 points (and three blocked shots) in Elmhurst's win. Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com

3OT games in D-III tournament history Centre 68, Baldwin Wallace 65 (3 OT), 1979 quarterfinals Potsdam State 76, Ithaca 74 (3 OT), 1983 first round (of 32) Scranton 74, Widener 69 (3 OT), 1983 Sweet 16 UW-Whitewater 87, St. Norbert 84 (3 OT), 1984 Sweet 16 NYU 80, Rowan 75 (3 OT), 1994 Sweet 16 Guilford 129, Lincoln 128 (3 OT), 2007 Sweet 16 Elmhurst 110, St. Norbert 98 (3 OT), 2015 first round (62)

DE PERE, Wis. - St. Norbert College held leads late in regulation, the first overtime and second overtime but couldn't close either period out and subsequently lost a 110-98 triple-overtime decision to Elmhurst College in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament at Schuldes Sports Center.

The Green Knights saw their season end 24-2. Elmhurst (20-7) advanced to face University of Northwestern at 7 p.m. Saturday in the second round. Northwestern knocked off University of St. Thomas 71-70 in the other first-round game held at St. Norbert.

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St. Norbert led 66-64 inside 30 seconds remaining in regulation time. Elmhurst missed two shots and got both offensive rebounds to set up Will Nixon's layup with 3 seconds left to force overtime at 66-66.

Elmhurst trailed by five with just 40 seconds left to play in the first overtime. Wuest knocked down his third 3-pointer of the game to bring Elmhurst to within two. St. Norbert traded four free throws for an Elmhurst bucket giving the Green Knights an 80-76 lead with 18 seconds remaining. Leonard collected an offensive rebound and scored to cut the lead in half with seven ticks left on the clock. Austin Elliott split a pair of free throws to give St. Norbert a three-point cushion, but Wuest went the length of the floor and hit the game-tying 3-pointer to force a second overtime.

St. Norbert then held a lead by as much as 92-88 with 43 seconds left in the second overtime, but the Bluejays' Erik Crittenden made a pair of free throws and then hit a lean-in jumper with about 6 seconds remaining to knot the score 92-92. D.J. DeValk's potential game-winning layup at the buzzer was ruled late.

Elmhurst took control early in the third overtime sessions, with Wuest scoring a conventional three-point play 9 seconds into the period and Eric Leonard burying a 3-pointer on the next possession. St. Norbert never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

"We really matured in this game," said Elmhurst coach John Baines. "We have a bunch of juniors on this squad who've never played a tournament game. We played a really good game on the road and our team really grew up tonight."

Elliott led St. Norbert with 31 points, while Steven Hofacker added 21 points. Ben Bobinski added 16 points and Andrew Schwoerer 14 points. The Green Knights shot just 40 percent (26-for-65) from the floor, including 8-for-25 (32 percent) in the second half. St. Norbert was 35-for-42 at the free-throw line.

Elmhurst was led by Wuest's 32 points, 31 of which were scored after halftime. Leonard added 17 points and Crittenden 16 points for the Bluejays, who shot 46.8 percent (37-for-79) from the floor and were 27-for-35 (77.1 percent) at the free-throw line.