MILWAUKEE – Pat McDonald (Jr.-Port Washington, Wis.) reached the 1,000-point mark for his career and it took the Lakeland University men's basketball team less than six minutes to turn a close game into a rout in the Muskies' 89-66 win over Wisconsin Lutheran College Wednesday night in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play.

McDonald scored 22 points, added a career-high 11 assists and became the 41st player in program history to top 1,000 points for his career. Lakeland also moved closer to securing its spot in the six-team NACC Tournament, improving to 10-6 in league play (13-7 overall).  

Leading by just three early in the second half, Lakeland went on a 23-5 run over a span of 5 minutes 40 seconds to build a 21-point lead. The Muskies cruised from there and clinched a sweep of the Warriors this season and a winning overall regular season record.

Lakeland had its second-best shooting game of the season, hitting 50.7% from the field (36 of 71). That included 52.4% shooting in the second half, when the Muskies hit 22 of 42 shots.

Holding a slim 42-39 lead with 17:40 left in the game, Lakeland made its next six shots, going ahead 57-41 on a three by Zach Hasenstein (Fr.-Sheboygan, Wis.). After a WLC three-pointer, the Muskies extended the run with eight more points in a row, including three-pointers by Carlos Campos (So.-Janesville, Wis.) and Garrett Duffin (Jr.-Princeton, Ill.) and a fast break layup by McDonald that made it 65-44 with 11:46 left in the game.

McDonald scored again less than two minutes later, reaching 1,000 points for his career with a jumper in the paint with 9:50 left in the game. Lakeland was in charge the rest of the way, stretching the lead out as far as 26 points on three occasions, the last time on a dunk by Sam Kaminski (So.-Sheboygan, Wis.) with 1:30 to play.

The Muskies and Warriors (5-15 overall, 5-11 NACC) were locked in a battle for the first 20 minutes, with seven ties and six lead changes. Lakeland started and finished the half strong, opening with a 9-2 lead in the first five minutes and then finishing the half on a 10-2 run to take a 38-34 halftime lead, the last points coming on a three-pointer by Eric Nygaard (Jr.-Plymouth, Wis.) with two seconds left in the half.

Five players finished in double figures for Lakeland including Shakur Jinad (So.-Chicago, Ill.), who posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds and led the Muskies' 47-33 rebounding edge. Campos and Joshuan McNeal (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) both also added 12 points each and Hasenstein also finished with 10.

Collin Kennedy scored 18 points to lead Wisconsin Lutheran, which shot just 36.5% (23 of 63), including 9-for-30 in the second half (30%).

Lakeland is back home Saturday when it hosts Concordia University Chicago at 2 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.