The Lakeland University men's basketball team won for the fifth time in six games and completed a season sweep of rival Concordia University Wisconsin with a 78-73 win Saturday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies improved to 9-7 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and now sit all alone in fourth place in the conference with four games to play. Lakeland moved up after both Milwaukee School of Engineering and Rockford University lost on Saturday, and if they can stay in the top four will clinch at least one home game in the upcoming six-team NACC Tournament.

The Muskies took the lead less than six minutes into the game and never trailed again. Lakeland got the better of Concordia (13-8 overall, 12-4 NACC) in both halves, first as both teams struggled from the field in the opening 20 minutes and then as both teams heated up in the second half.

The Muskies led by as many as ten in the first half and by as much as eight in the second half on multiple occasions, but the Falcons made a late push to set up some drama in the final minutes. Concordia trailed 72-66 after a layup by Zach Hasenstein (Jr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) with 3 minutes, 13 seconds left in the game, but the Falcons scored five straight points over the next 57 seconds and trailed just 72-71 after a layup by Joey Zietlow.

Hasenstein scored inside again and Jordan Johnson followed with two free throws with 1:46 left to keep it a one-point game. Concordia would not score again, though, missing three straight shots and also committing a turnover on its final four possessions, including two chances to tie in the final minute. Lakeland finished making four of five free throws in the final minute to close the game out, the final two by Trenton Nickel (Jr.-Kiel, Wis.) sealing it with a second left.

Nickel finished with 17 points, Eric Jordan (Fr.-Chicago, Ill.) scored 14 and Hasenstein added 11. Isaac Anderson (Sr.-Linden, Wis.) made it four in double figures with 10 points and also grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds. Lakeland shot 44.8% for the game (30 of 67), including 54.8% (17 of 31) in the second half.

Johnson scored a game-high 25 points and added 10 rebounds for Concordia, which shot 40.8% (29 of 71), well below its season average of 48.1% entering the game. Zietlow also added 19 points and Jared Jurss finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

The Muskies are next on the road Wednesday when they travel to face Aurora University at 7 p.m. in Aurora, Ill.