Carlos Campos (Jr.-Janesville, Wis.) hit a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in the game and the Lakeland University men's basketball team defeated Aurora University 80-78 Wednesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies picked up a big Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference win, clinching a season sweep of the Spartans and inching closer to a top-six spot in the conference standings. Lakeland moved within half a game of Aurora in the standings, improving to 10-12 overall and 8-9 in the NACC with its fourth win in six games.

Campos's shot from the corner capped a final minute that saw the Spartans (10-11 overall, 8-8 NACC) take the lead for the first time in the second half before the Muskies missed one go-ahead shot attempt but through hustle got a second chance.

Max Vickers made two free throws with 34 seconds left to give Aurora a 78-77 lead, its first lead since 3:46 remained in the first half. The Muskies then came down and missed one shot, but Eric Nygaard (Sr.-Plymouth, Wis.) dove on the floor and was able to tie up an Aurora player for a jump ball, with the possession arrow going to Lakeland with 15 seconds left.

After a timeout, the clock was ticking and time was winding down when Pat McDonald (Sr.-Port Washington, Wis.) started a drive from the left wing, which brought a Spartan defender over to help just enough to leave Campos open from the corner, where he buried the go-ahead shot. Aurora had one final shot after a timeout but Garrett Hoffman's halfcourt heave came up short.

Lakeland held on to win in a game it led much of the way, only to see the Spartans rally and nearly steal it late. The Muskies led by as many as 14 points in the second half and by 13 with less than 10 minutes to play after Nygaard's basket in the lane made it 64-51.

Aurora followed with a 14-3 run capped by a Max Vickers jumper making it 67-65 with 6:22 left, but Lakeland pushed the lead back out to six. Three-pointers by Zach Hasenstein (So.-Sheboygan, Wis.) and McDonald made it 75-69 with four minutes left before the Spartans closed back within one on two occasions and then finally took the lead in the final minute.

The Muskies also led most of the first half and took a 40-34 lead into halftime after closing the half on a 13-4 spurt. McDonald scored 12 of his 23 points in the opening 20 minutes and Jequan Pegeese (So.-Beloit, Wis.) came off the bench to score all nine of his points and also blocked two shots.

Campos finished with 14 points and four three-pointers of the Muskies' team total of 12 triples made in 30 attempts. Nygaard also added 13 points plus a game-high 10 rebounds. Lakeland shot 43.1% as a team (31 of 72) and committed just seven turnovers.

Ty Carlson scored 15 points to lead Aurora, which shot 49.2% (29 of 59), including 55.6% (15 of 27) in the second half. The Spartans also outrebounded Lakeland 43-33 but made a season-low six three-pointers in 19 attempts, well off their season average of over 11 triples per game coming in.

The Muskies will continue their late-season push Saturday when they travel to face Benedictine University at 4:15 p.m. in Lisle, Ill.