A scorching-hot first half wasn't enough for the Lakeland University men's basketball team as Milwaukee School of Engineering went on a big run and rallied to a 96-84 win Saturday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Raiders went on a 25-6 run in the second half and eventually turned a 12-point second half deficit into a 10-point lead in a span of less than 10 minutes. The Muskies came up short of moving into a tie for first in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference as MSOE won the battle for position in the standings.

Lakeland (6-5 overall, 4-2 NACC) started the game making six of its first seven shots, building a 19-6 lead less than 5 1/2 minutes in. The Muskies never really slowed down, hitting 11 three-pointers in the first 20 minutes and closing the half with a flourish as well, outscoring the Raiders 11-2 to finish the half with Isaac Anderson (Jr.-Linden, Wis.) draining a three-pointer just before the buzzer for a 50-42 halftime lead.

Lakeland was still ahead 58-46 early in the second half when the Raiders (10-1 overall, 5-1 NACC) made their move. MSOE scored 16 of the game's next 19 points and took the lead at 62-61 on a steal and layup by Michael Pitrof with 9 minutes 40 seconds to play.

The Raiders stretched the lead to 71-64 on a three-pointer by Josh Herzog, and pushed the margin to 10 when Pitrof finished another fast break layup after a steal to make it 79-69 with 5:45 left. Lakeland briefly got back within five on a three by Jequan Pegeese (So.-Beloit, Wis.) making it 81-76 with 2:48 to go, but Travis Ballard hit a dagger three-pointer just under a minute later to push MSOE's lead back to eight, and the guests made 12 straight foul shots in the final 1:03 to close it out.

The Muskies made 16 three-pointers in the game in all in 35 attempts (45.7%) and featured all five starters in double figures led by Pegeese with 18 and Garrett Duffin (Jr.-Princeton, Ill.) and Zach Hasenstein (So.-Sheboygan, Wis.) both with 14. Lakeland cooled off in the second half, though, making just one three in the first 14 minutes as the Raiders rallied.

The Muskies actually struggled more inside the arc, shooting 41.8% from the floor for the game (28 of 67) and making 12 of 22 from the charity stripe (54.5%). Lakeland also committed an uncharacteristic 14 turnovers, three more than its season average and which MSOE turned into 25 points.

Shakur Jinad (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) and Eric Nygaard (Sr.-Plymouth, Wis.) both added 11 points and eight rebounds each and Trenton Nickel (So.-Kiel, Wis.) added a career-best nine points off the bench.

Jason Palesse scored 24 points, making 7 of 9 from the field and all 10 of his foul shots to lead MSOE, which shot 46.5% (33 of 71) from the field and also made 26 of 31 free throws (83.9%).

Lakeland is now idle for the holidays and until the new year, when it travels to Rockford University on Jan. 3 for a 7 p.m. tip-off.