MEQUON – The Lakeland University men's basketball team fought back from a 14-point second half deficit before Concordia University Wisconsin pulled away again to defeat the Muskies 90-76 Saturday afternoon at the R. John Buuck Fieldhouse.
Concordia went on a 25-7 scoring run after the Muskies tied the game in the second half and went on to gain a split of the season series between the schools. The Falcons also snapped Lakeland's brief three-game winning streak as the Muskies dropped to 10-6 overall and 6-5 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.
The host Falcons (8-8 overall, 6-5 NACC) also moved into a tie with Lakeland in the conference standings by shooting 50% from the field (35 of 70). That included Concordia hitting 19 of 38 field goals in the first half as it rallied from an early nine-point deficit to take a 12-point halftime lead.
The Muskies fought back after trailing 49-35 early in the second half, though, rallying to tie the game at 59-59 after a three-point play by
Pat McDonald (
Jr.-Port Washington, Wis.) with 11:41 left in the game. Concordia scored the next five points, though, and then salted the game away with a 15-2 run late, taking its largest lead at 84-66 after a three-pointer by Jordan Johnson with under four minutes to play. The Muskies never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Lakeland got off to a good start to the game, hitting 8 of 10 shots over a stretch to lead 19-10 after McDonald's layup with 13:41 left in the first half. The Falcons struck back, tying the game at 23-23 on a layup by Andrew Fratzke with 7:49 left and then scoring 12 straight points to take a 41-30 lead late in the half and eventually taking a 47-35 margin into the break.
The Muskies shot 43.1% for the game, making 31 of 72 shots, but hit just 7 of 27 from three-point range (25.9%). Concordia also finished with a 43-35 rebounding advantage.
McDonald scored 23 points, hitting 9 of 12 shots from the field, and also added five assists.
Zach Hasenstein (
Fr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) scored 16 and
Shakur Jinad (
So.-Chicago, Ill.) added 10 points plus a game-high 13 rebounds.
Josh Hau scored 25 points to lead the Falcons and Fratzke added 21 points and 11 rebounds. Lakeland won the first meeting between the teams 91-88 at home on Nov. 25.
The Muskies return home for their next game Wednesday against Edgewood College at 7 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
