LISLE, Ill. – Benedictine University heated up down the stretch and a game effort on the road by the Lakeland University men's basketball team came up short in a 78-73 loss Saturday afternoon at the Rice Center.

The Muskies were dealt a blow to their postseason hopes, dropping to 8-10 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference with two regular season games remaining. Lakeland is now in a position of almost certainly needing to win its final two games and also needing help to make the six-team NACC Tournament.

The Muskies (10-13 overall) led for a good share of the game and were still up by three with 10 minutes left in the second half. Benedictine (13-10 overall, 10-8 NACC) made 10 of its final 14 shots to close out the contest, though, setting a pace that proved too be tough to match.

The Eagles made six straight field goals, the last a three-pointer by Kyle Graebner making it 64-60 with 4 minutes, 43 seconds left. Lakeland came back to tie it at 64-all, but Graebner hit another three-pointer to key a deciding 9-2 run to put Benedictine up by seven in the final minute.

Lakeland led for nearly 28 minutes of the game and opened up a 13-point lead in the first half, when it made 7 of 11 from three-point range. Six different players made triples, and a three-pointer by Jequan Pegeese (So.-Beloit, Wis.) followed by a layup by Trenton Nickel (So.-Kiel, Wis.) both gave the Muskies their largest leads of the game.

Pegeese scored 20 points and added a career-high seven rebounds to lead Lakeland. Garrett Duffin (Sr.-Princeton, Ill.) also added 16 points and eight boards and Eric Nygaard (Sr.-Plymouth, Wis.) also added 13 points.

The Muskies shot 45.3% (29 of 64) and finished 8 of 20 from three-point range (40.0%). Lakeland was hurt at the free throw line though, making just 7 of 19 (36.8%).

Kenny Bogus scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead five Eagles starters in double figures. Bryan Jakobsze added another double-double with 13 points and 12 boards as Benedictine finished with a 45-38 rebounding advantage.

With one week left in the regular season, the Muskies are at the tail end of a complete logjam in the NACC standings. Lakeland is in eighth spot of teams eligible for the tourney, but positions four through eight are separated by just 1 1/2 games. Three teams are tied for fourth at 9-8, while Wisconsin Lutheran College also sits half a game ahead of Lakeland at 8-9.

The Muskies will host third-place Rockford (11-7 in the NACC) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.