Wisconsin Lutheran College built an early 14-point lead and the Lakeland College men's basketball team played from behind the rest of the night, eventually falling 88-84 at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
The Muskies got as close as one point on numerous occasions late in the second half but never got over the hump. Lakeland dropped to 9-5 overall and 5-4 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and has alternated wins and losses in its first four games of the new year.
Wisconsin Lutheran (5-8 overall, 4-5 NACC) raced out to a 20-6 lead in the game's first seven-plus minutes and would never trail again. The Warriors shot 50% in the first half (16 of 32), won the rebounding battle for the game 45-36, and were clutch from the free throw line in the final minute.
WLC hit eight of its first 13 shots to start the game and led 40-29 at halftime after fighting off the Muskies' first comeback attempt. Following its slow start, Lakeland used a 13-2 run to get back within three points at 22-19 before the visitors regained control.
The Muskies went down by 12 points early in the second half but the deficit down to two, and then one.
Pat McDonald (
Fr.-Port Washington, Wis.) hit a three-pointer with 11:46 left to make it 52-50-one of eight triples by Lakeland in the second half-and his three with 9:12 left made the score 63-62.
The Warriors once again pushed the lead back to 10 points at 77-67 with 3:17 left, but the Muskies weren't done.
Brandon James (
So.-Rockford, Ill.) scored Lakeland's next 13 points with three three-pointers plus four free throws, and his last three made it 81-80 with 35 seconds remaining. The Muskies would cut the deficit to a single point two more times, but Wisconsin Lutheran answered all three times with a pair of free throws and iced the game when Collin Kennedy hit one of two from the line with two seconds left.
Kennedy finished with 26 points-including 18 in the second half-plus 10 rebounds to lead WLC. Jake Jarnigo scored 25, Chase Nowak chipped in 19 and Jim Marose added 14 points and 13 rebounds, including 10 points in the Warriors' early run.
James scored 23 points for lead Lakeland, while
Tanner Hackl (
Sr.-West De Pere, Wis.) added 22 points and 11 rebounds. McDonald also added 16 points and six assists.
The Muskies shot 40.3% (29 of 72) and made 9 of 28 from three-point range, including 8 of 18 in the second half. Wisconsin Lutheran made 46.8% from the floor (29 of 62) and 23 of 30 from the foul line (76.7%).
The Muskies are right back at it Thursday when they travel to face Milwaukee School of Engineering at 7 p.m.
D3Photography.com was on hand for Tuesday's game and took these pictures:
