Wisconsin Lutheran College shot 68.8% from the field in the second half and better than 56% for the game and the Lakeland University men's basketball team was unable to keep up in a 113-86 loss Wednesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Warriors scored 62 points while making 22 of 32 shots from the field in the second half. WLC pulled away and stayed in a tie for first in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, while Lakeland dropped to 8-10 overall and is now 6-7 in conference play.

The Muskies saw a competitive game get away in the late going as Wisconsin Lutheran (14-4 overall, 11-2 NACC) was nearly flawless finishing. The Warriors scored 43 points in the final 12 minutes, pulling away just after Lakeland had made a run and appeared ready for a dogfight down the stretch.

The Muskies scored six straight points, including two layups by Trenton Nickel (Jr.-Kiel, Wis.) plus another by reserve sparkplug Greg Barber (Jr.-Miami, Fla.) that made the score 70-66 with 12 minutes, 37 seconds left. That led to a WLC timeout, and the Warriors responded after with an 11-0 run with an Andrew Bruggink bucket making it 81-66 with 9:32 to play.

Lakeland would only get as close as 12 the rest of the way, when Barber hit a three-pointer to make it 89-77 with 5:51 left, but a three-point play by Bruggink started another 11-0 spurt capped by Bruggink's two foul shots getting Lutheran to 100 points and a 100-77 lead with 3:47 left in the game.

The Muskies kept up with and even outshot the Warriors for one half, hitting 51.6% from the field (16 of 31) in the opening 20 minutes. The teams went back and forth for the first 14 minutes, but Matty Farner's two free throws gave WLC a 37-35 lead with 6:03 left in the half, and the Warriors would take a 51-45 lead into halftime.

Nickel and Barber both tied career highs with 19 and 15 points, respectively. Jequan Pegeese (Jr.-Beloit, Wis.) also scored 19 points and Tylan Huff (Fr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) added 16 points, including five three-pointers in the first half. Lakeland shot 28 of 62 for the game (45.2%) and hit 11 of 30 from three-point range (36.7%) as well as 19 of 30 foul shots (63.3%).

Bruggink, the leading scorer in the NACC coming in, shook off first half foul trouble and scored 28 points. Farner also scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Drew Bernhagen added 17 points off the bench. Wisconsin Lutheran finished the game shooting 56.5% (39 of 69) from the field, made 27 of 30 free throws (90.0%) and also outrebounded Lakeland 46-25.

The game also marked the return of WLC coach Aaron Aanonsen, who coached the Muskies for nine years from 2008-17. Current Lakeland coach Sam Schroeder played under and later coached for Aanonsen before succeeding him.

Lakeland is home again Saturday when it welcomes Aurora University at 2 p.m. at the Woltzen Gymnasium.