Milwaukee School of Engineering finished the game on a 20-5 run and the Lakeland University men's basketball team was defeated 77-63 in its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener Tuesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

A back and forth game that had 17 lead changes ended on a downer for the Muskies, who missed eight of their last nine field goal tries and had four turnovers over the final five minutes. Lakeland dropped to 0-3 overall this year, while MSOE is now 1-1 overall.

The ending was not indicative of the flow of the first 35 minutes of the game, when the teams traded surges and runs. Lakeland led by seven points in the early going; MSOE led by eight points early in the second half, but the teams always reeled each other in and seemed set for a dramatic finish.

The two squads traded the lead 10 times in the second half alone, with the Muskies leading by three points as late as 7:16 to play after a jumper by Eric Nygaard (Jr.-Plymouth, Wis.). Lakeland still led 58-57 after two free throws by MSOE's Max Wojcik, but the Raiders took the lead for good on a layup by Alex Darville with 6:12 to play.

The Muskies still trailed just 63-60 after Joshuan McNeal (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) hit two free throws with 5:12 left, but MSOE followed with six straight points while Lakeland went cold. McNeal hit a three-pointer with 2:23 remaining to cut the deficit to 69-63, but the Muskies would not score again the rest of the way.

McNeal finished with a career-high 21 points while Brandon James (Jr.-Rockford, Ill.) and Pat McDonald (So.-Port Washington, Wis.) both added 16 points each. Nygaard and Mark Gryszkiewicz (Sr.-Sussex, Wis.) both finished with eight rebounds each.

Lakeland shot 42.2% from the field (27 of 64) and 5-for-21 from three-point range. The Muskies also were just 4-for-9 from the free throw line and were out-rebounded 46-34.

Wojcik scored 22 points to lead the Raiders, while Collin Seubert added 18 points and 12 rebounds and Darville chipped in 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. MSOE shot 44.4% (28 of 63) but was 18 of 24 from the line.

The Muskies make their first road trip of the season on Saturday when they travel to face Edgewood College at 4:15 p.m. in Madison.