Lakeland/MSOE Game Notes  PDF
The Lakeland University men's basketball team faces an opponent that has given it considerable trouble in recent years when it hosts Milwaukee School of Engineering for a two-game Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference North Division series opening Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
Fan attendance policy:Â Under current COVID-19 protocols, Lakeland University is currently not allowing any spectators for home sporting events.
Broadcast Information: Live audio/video/statistics are all available to follow along with at Â
http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive. Andy Damp is again calling the play-by-play for all home basketball games this year.
Series history: 101st meeting, Lakeland leads 65-35
Though the Muskies hold a big advantage all-time, the Raiders have had a heavy upper hand in the series of late, winning the last 11 meetings, including all three last season. MSOE swept the regular season home-and-home, winning 95-70 on Jan. 4, 2020 in Milwaukee and 90-79 win here at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium two weeks later on Jan. 18. The teams then met in the NACC Tournament first round, where Lakeland almost came back from a 23-point second half deficit but fell 79-76 after a tying three-point attempt missed just before the final buzzer. The Muskies last defeated the Engineers on Jan. 21, 2015, with a 91-70 victory completing a season sweep in the 2014-15 season.The series dates back to 1935, and Lakeland has had winning streaks of 26 and 13 games against MSOE.
Lakeland last time out: Defeated Concordia Wisconsin 86-85 last Saturday
Trenton Nickel drilled a game-winning three-pointer with 1.3 seconds remaining to give Muskies their first NACC North Division win of the season last Saturday night. In a back-and-forth affair that saw 16 lead changes, including four in the final 1:03, Nickel's shot was the final blow as Lakeland came back to topple the defending NACC Tournament champions after trailing by three with less than 15 seconds left.
Aiden Polzin was the Muskies' leading scorer for the second time this season, finishing with 23 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the field, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc.
Cam Jaeger also had another strong game, scoring 17 points and making all seven shots from the charity stripe.
MSOE last time out: Lost at Rockford 97-70 Tuesday
The Raiders shot 50% from the field, but were done in by a team that was even hotter, as Rockford shot 54.8% and sank 19 three-pointers to give MSOE its first loss of the season. The Regents were especially on fire in the second half, hitting 11 triples and breaking the game open after leading by five at halftime. Michael Pitrof had a team-high 17 points for the Raiders with three steals, Josh Herzog added seven assists, and Sammy Linn grabbed six rebounds in the loss. The game was between a pair of NACC opponents playing in different divisions this year, and thus was not a conference game for either team.
About the Raiders: While they finished 15-13 overall and 10-10 in conference last season, the Raiders made a run all the way to the conference tournament title game as the No.5 seed, including the 79-76 win over the Muskies in the first round. MSOE then upset top-seeded Benedictine in the semifinals and in the championship game took Concordia Wisconsin to overtime before falling 80-75 to close their season. Pitrof, the team's assist leader and second-leading scorer last season, is back for his sophomore season, while Herzog and Linn also provide experience in the starting lineup for coach Brian Miller, who is in his 17th year in Milwaukee and has won 274 career games at MSOE. Miller was previously Lakeland's head coach from 1994-99, winning 58 games in five seasons before going to Concordia Chicago for five years and then to MSOE.
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