NACC Tournament First Round
The Lakeland University men's basketball team is back in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament for the second time in three years and plays at home when it welcomes Milwaukee School of Engineering Tuesday night.
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Broadcast Information:Â Live audio/video/statistics are all available to follow along with atÂ
http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive. Andy Damp is again calling the play-by-play for all home basketball games this year.
Series history: 100th meeting, Lakeland leads 65-34
Though the Muskies hold a commanding lead over Milwaukee School of Engineering in the all-time series which dates all the way back to 1935, the Raiders have had their number of late, winning the last 11 meetings. That includes a sweep of the two regular season games this year as the Raiders won 95-70 on Jan. 4 in Milwaukee before claiming a 90-79 win here at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium two weeks later on Jan. 18. Lakeland last defeated the Raiders twice in the 2014-15 season, including most recently a 91-70 win at MSOE Jan. 21, 2015. This will be the first time the two teams have matched up in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament. The schools' last meeting in the postseason came in the 2003 Lake Michigan Conference tourney final, when the sixth-seeded Raiders knocked off the top seed Muskies 91-87 to clinch a spot in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Lakeland last time out: Defeated Dominican 93-90 Saturday
Lakeland shot 60% in the second half and clinched a home game to open the NACC Tournament with the win at Dominican. The Muskies trailed by 19 points in the first half and was down 18 with just over 13 minutes left in regulation. Lakeland made 15 of its final 20 shots from the field, though, and a basket by
Carlos Campos gave the Muskies a 73-72 lead with 4:44 to play. Dominican tied the score just over a minute later at 75-75, but Lakeland would score on its next six possessions to never trail again, even leading by seven with less than a minute left.
Zach Hasenstein scored 17 points to lead six Lakeland players scoring in double figures. Campos also added 15 points and
Isaac Anderson and
Jequan Pegeese added 14 points each.
MSOE last time out: Defeated Marian 56-51 Saturday
The Raiders held off a late rally from Marian to clinch a NACC playoff berth Saturday afternoon in Fond du Lac. MSOE got off to a hot start, scoring the first eight points of the game on their way to a 31-20 halftime lead. The Sabres rebounded in the second half, cutting the MSOE lead to as little as two with nine minutes remaining. After a quick timeout, MSOE regained momentum and extended their lead to eight, never letting the Sabres get closer than four points the rest of the way. Matthew Kirmse led all scorers with 20 points, including two three-pointers, and tacked on a team-high four assists. Sammy Linn grabbed a team-high nine rebounds off the bench, and Gabe Wear added nine points on 3 of 4 shooting with two three-pointers.Â
Recapping the first two meetings: The Raiders jumped out to a 27-point halftime lead in the first meeting on Jan. 4 in Milwaukee, leading by 39 points and winning 95-70. MSOE led by as many as 39 points, though the game was a breakout performance for Muskies freshman
Tylan Huff, who scored 15 points and since has become a regular in the rotation. The Muskies played better in the second contest two weeks later at home, losing 90-79 after trailing by just five at the half. This game featured another breakout performance as
Brandon Rowe scored a career-high 18 points off the bench for the Muskies. The Raiders shot an impressive 56.1% from the field during the game, and outrebounded Lakeland 40-27 and had four starters score in double figures, led by Gabe Wear with 18 points.
Campos climbing the leaderboards: Carlos Campos has been rising in the record book at Lakeland this season in the categories of career three-pointers and career points. After Saturday's game against Dominican, Campos has knocked down a total of 144 three-pointers in his career, one better than his former teammate
Pat McDonald, placing him at number eight in career three-point field goals. This season alone he has knocked down 50, tying a single-season high that he also hit his sophomore season. One more made three-pointer would tie Campos with Josh Regal and James Oshkeshquoam with the nineteenth-most made three-pointers in a single season. Campos has also racked up 924 points in his career. If he can get to 1,000 points this season, he would become the 42nd player in Lakeland men's basketball history to reach the 1,000 point plateau.Â
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