MILWAUKEE – The Lakeland University men's basketball team saw its five-game winning streak end in its new year debut, falling at Milwaukee School of Engineering 95-70 Saturday afternoon at Hotchkin Arena.
MSOE dominated play on the inside and blazed to a 27-point halftime lead, looking more like the team that won last year's Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season title and less like a team now 5-6 overall and 2-4 in the NACC. The Muskies lost for the first time since November and dropped to 6-5 overall and 4-2 in conference.
Lakeland played for the first time in 15 days and had a tough time throughout, leading only briefly at 2-0. Raiders finished with a huge 62-20 advantage in points in the paint as well as a decisive 50-28 advantage in rebounding. MSOE also shot 52.7% for the game (39 of 74) and led by as many as 39 in the second half.
The Raiders missed their first four shots from the perimeter before converting 22 of 33 for the rest of the first half in building a 53-26 lead at the break. Twenty-eight of MSOE's points came on layups or shots right near the basket.
MSOE continued to roll in the second half and led by as many as 39 points after two free throws by Kam Mitchell made it 77-38 with 12 minutes, 32 seconds left in the game. The Raiders led by 39 on three other occasions before Lakeland finished the game on a 24-10 run to make the final score more respectable.
Freshman
Tylan Huff (
Fr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) provided a spark off the bench in the second half and scored a season-high 14 points, hitting three three-pointers and 4 of 8 shots overall. Huff was the lone player to score in double figures, with
Deonte Carlton (
Sr.-Green Bay, Wis.) and
Zach Hasenstein (
Jr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) adding nine points each.
Brandon Rowe (
Fr.-Rio, Wis.) also added six points off the bench, hitting all six of his free throw attempts.
Matthew Kirmse scored 22 points to lead five players in double figures for MSOE. Michael Pitrof added 19 points plus a game-high eight rebounds.
The Muskies are back in the friendly surroundings of the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium when they return to play Tuesday against Rockford University at 7 p.m.
