A gallant rally in the final minutes came up just short as the Lakeland University men's basketball team was defeated by Illinois Institute of Technology 81-72 Saturday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies cut a 23-point second half deficit to six points in the final minute on the strength of 17 second half points by Pat McDonald (Sr.-Port Washington, Wis.). The Scarlet Hawks finally closed the game out on the strength of excellent free throw shooting, sending Lakeland to 6-7 overall and 4-4 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.

The newest member of the NACC rode hot shooting to a big lead by early in the second half and then made 12 straight free throws down the stretch. Despite that and a big rebounding disadvantage, the Muskies still scrapped back into the game late, cutting significantly into a 19-point deficit with just over five minutes left.

Illinois Tech (8-5 overall, 5-3 NACC) led 66-47 with 5:15 left when Lakeland heated up and also caused problems with a full-court press. In fact, the Scarlet Hawks would not make another field goal the rest of the way, while the Muskies chipped away, often doing so three points at a time.

McDonald made two three-pointers and Campos added another in the late going, and both also added three-point plays. McDonald's jumper while fouled and ensuing free throw with 1 minute, 14 seconds left knocked the deficit under 10 for the first time since late in the first half, and his pull-up three-pointer just 14 seconds later made it 74-68. In all, he scored 13 of the Muskies' final 19 points over the final 3:26.

Lakeland would get no closer as the Scarlet Hawks finished the game off with excellent work at the charity stripe. IIT made 22 of 26 foul shots in the second half, including 15 of 17 free throws in the last 3:33 and 9 of 10 in the last 1:05.

Illinois Tech led much of the way, taking the lead with a 9-0 run in the first half capped by a steal and layup by Anthony Mosley making it 17-11 with 10:51 left in the half. The guests would build a 37-26 halftime lead and then blew the game open with 12 of the first 14 points after halftime, going ahead 49-28 with 16:50 to play.

The Scarlet Hawks made 50% of their shots in the first half and then hit six straight shots in their spurt after halftime, at one point hitting 56.8% from the field. IIT finished the game shooting 47.3% (26 of 55) but also owned a 46-23 rebounding advantage.

Jake Digiorgio finished with 19 points and 20 rebounds, including 16 points and 11 boards in the second half alone. Max Hisatake also added 14 points and 10 boards, and Mosley led the Scarlet Hawks with 22 points for the game.

McDonald made 8 of 12 shots from the field and added four steals. Campos also scored 13 and Shakur Jinad (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) added 11 points. Eric Nygaard (Sr.-Plymouth, Wis.) also finished with a team-high eight rebounds.

Lakeland is home again Wednesday when it welcomes Edgewood College for a 7 p.m. tip at the Woltzen Gym.