PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's basketball team darted out to a big lead early but ran out of gas in the second half as Milwaukee School of Engineering rallied for an 80-71 win Tuesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Raiders took over in the second half against the shorthanded Muskies and won the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener for both teams. MSOE improved to 5-1 overall while Lakeland saw a three-game winning streak stopped while dropping to 3-2.

The Muskies took a 16-point lead in the first half, getting off to a blazing start offensively. Lakeland made 13 of its first 20 shots, including a three-pointer by Maxwell Alfred (So.-Baton Rouge, La.) to make it 29-13 with 8 minutes, 57 seconds left in the half. Isaiah Hammond (Fr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) followed with a layup the next time down and the Muskies were shooting 65% after more than 11 minutes of play.

Lakeland would go cold from there, though, missing 12 of its final 13 shots from the field before halftime. The Muskies still led 36-24 after Matt Sechman (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) split two free throws with 4:05 left in the half, but would go scoreless the rest of the half and MSOE capitalized, closing within four points by halftime when C.J. Cappuccio banked in a short jumper to make it 36-32 at the break.

Lakeland still held a tenuous lead early in the second half and was ahead 46-42 after a three-pointer by Eric Jordan (So.-Chicago, Ill.) with 15:37 left. The Raiders would turn the game with a 13-0 run, with Cappuccio converting a three-point play to give MSOE its first lead and a layup by Steve Dillard putting the guests ahead 55-46 with 12:19 to play.

The Raiders would lead the rest of the way, as the Muskies were unable to mount a serious run again. Sechman's layup cut the deficit to 57-51 with 11:33 left, but MSOE would follow with another 10-2 run, taking its largest lead at 67-53 after two free throws by Will Busch. Lakeland would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Kai Buliox (So.-Milwaukee, Wis.) scored a career-high 15 points and added six rebounds to lead the Muskies. Jordan added 13 points and Hammond scored ten, and Greg Barber (Sr.-Miami, Fla.) added nine points and a team high seven rebounds.

Lakeland finished shooting 43.9%, making 29 of 66 shots, and struggled from long range, making 8 of 30 (26.7%) including just 3 of 16 in the second half.

Michael Pitrof paced MSOE with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Cappucio came off the bench to spark the guests with 17 points. MSOE made 15 of 29 shots in the second half (51.7%) and finished at 46.8% for the game (29 of 62), and also made 19 of 22 free throw attempts (86.4%).

Lakeland is off through Thanksgiving and will next face St. Norbert College on Wednesday, Dec. 1 for a 7 p.m. tip in De Pere.