PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's basketball team shot 50% from the field and took control early on the way to an 85-67 win over Illinois Institute of Technology Saturday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies outscored the Scarlet Hawks 21-3 over a six-minute stretch in the first half and were comfortably in command the rest of the way in moving back over the .500 mark for the season. Lakeland improved to 7-6 overall and is now 3-3 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference as the meat of the league schedule awaits.

Illinois Tech (3-8 overall, 3-3 NACC) played without leading scorer Otis Reale but established a physical tone in taking an early 9-5 lead. That would end up being the visitors' shining moment, as Lakeland would soon take over.

The Muskies made five three-pointers over the six-minute stretch, while the Scarlet Hawks went cold missing seven of their next eight shots. A scoop off the glass by Jequan Pegeese (Sr.-Beloit, Wis.) put Lakeland ahead 26-12 with 8 minutes, 26 seconds left in the first half and capped the 21-3 run.

The lead would never fall below 11 the rest of the way. The Muskies would lead by as much as 18 late in the first half and carried a 39-23 lead into halftime, and Illinois Tech would get no closer than briefly trimming the lead to 13 just out of halftime. Lakeland would put the game away by the middle of the second half and led by as many as 28 before the Scarlet Hawks made the score more respectable late.

Pegeese scored 20 points and Jaeger added 17 in a balanced attack that saw 13 different players score for Lakeland. Earl Lewis (Jr.-Madison, Wis.) also added 10 points and Matt Sechman (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) pulled down a game-high seven rebounds as the Muskies outrebounded IIT 42-30, the plus-12 margin their biggest single-game rebounding margin of the season.

Lakeland made 32 of 64 shots from the field and posted their second-best shooting percentage of the season, behind only making 50.6% of their shots in a win over Finlandia. The Muskies also hit 12 of 33 (36.4%) from three-point range and 9 of 13 free throw attempts (69.2%).

Milos Dugalic scored 19 points to lead Illinois Tech, which shot 46.9% (30 of 64) including 52.6% (20 of 38) in the second half. The Scarlet Hawks made just 4 of 21 from three-point range (19.0%) and 3 of 9 from the foul line.

The Muskies are home again Wednesday when they host rival Concordia University Wisconsin for a 7 p.m. tip at the Woltzen Gymnasium.