PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's basketball team made its final seven free throws in the last 36 seconds to hold on for a much-needed 79-70 win over Edgewood College Saturday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies saw a late 15-point lead cut to two with a minute left before recovering to topple an Edgewood team among the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference leaders early in the season. Lakeland evened its overall record at 8-8 and maintained contact with the middle of the pack in the conference, improving to 4-5 in NACC play.

The Muskies led for almost the entire game, built a 41-30 halftime lead and led by as many as 16 points early in the second half. Lakeland's lead was 15 at 68-53 when Tylan Huff (So.-Milwaukee, Wis.) hit a three-pointer with 6 minutes, 52 seconds left, and the Muskies still led 72-59 with less than five minutes to play.

Edgewood (6-9 overall, 5-3 NACC) would go on an 11-0 run over 3:18, closing within two after a tip-in by Eli Hartjes with 1:01 left. The Eagles scored on five of six trips down the court while Lakeland missed five straight shots and committed a pair of turnovers while the game tightened.

The Muskies would get a lifeline with 36 seconds left, though, when on an inbounds play with the shot clock winding down, Cam Jaeger (So.-Oostburg, Wis.) went up for a three-pointer and a foul was called. Jaeger made all three free throws to extend Lakeland's lead to 75-70, and Edgewood would get no closer. The Eagles missed a layup their next time down, Greg Barber (Sr.-Miami, Fla.) made two free throws and Jequan Pegeese (Sr.-Beloit, Wis.) added two more free throws with 11 seconds left for the final points.

The Eagles only leads in the game came early, the largest at 11-7 after a jumper by Hartjes. Lakeland came back with ten straight points capped by a three-pointer by Huff and never trailed again. Edgewood was within six points with less than a minute remaining in the first half but Pegeese hit a three-pointer and then a long jumper just before the halftime break to stretch the lead to 11.

Huff scored 18 points off the bench, single-handedly outscoring the Edgewood bench 18-3, and Jaeger also scored 18 points. Pegeese added 13 points and Buliox scored 12 points, including 10 in the second half.

Matt Sechman (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) also added 11 points and 11 rebounds and keyed the Muskies holding a 38-33 rebounding advantage. Lakeland also shot 44.1% (26 of 59) and hit 17 of 20 from the free throw line (85.0%).

Adam Baierl scored 17 points to lead Edgewood, which shot 42.4% (25 of 59). Hartjes also added 16 points and 13 rebounds and Jake Schroeckenthaler added 15 points, but 31 points for those two was nine points below their combined season average coming in.

The Muskies are home again Wednesday when they welcome Wisconsin Lutheran College for a 7 p.m. tip-off at the Woltzen Gym.