MEQUON, Wis. – Concordia University Wisconsin shot 52.7% from the field and the Lakeland University men's basketball team lost its second straight Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference road game falling 90-66 Tuesday night at Concordia's R. John Buuck Fieldhouse.
The Muskies had a second straight chilly game shooting from long range and played from behind the entire night, falling to 8-5 overall and 2-4 in the NACC. Concordia won its second straight game and improved to 4-9 overall and 2-6 in conference.
The Muskies had one of their worst shooting nights of the season, making 27 of 71 shots (38.0%). Lakeland also hit just 6 of 29 from three-point range for a season-low 20.7% from beyond the arc.
Concordia scored the game's first five points and soon started to pull away, using a 12-2 run to go ahead 28-14 after a three-pointer by Sam Meerstein with 10 minutes, 56 seconds left in the first half. Lakeland would respond with a 10-0 run to get within 28-24 after a layup by
Kai Buliox (
So.-Milwaukee, Wis.), but the Falcons came right back with the next 11 points to take a 39-24 lead.
Concordia would lead by as many as 17 in the first half and took a 48-33 lead into intermission after Freeman Jackson hit a jumper with five seconds left to give him 20 points in the first 20 minutes. Hopes of a Muskies comeback were dimmed quickly after halftime, as the Falcons came out of the locker room with a swift 11-2 run including three consecutive three-pointers by Jared Jurss. A layup by Gabe Pruss put CUW up 59-35 with 16:55 to play, and Lakeland would never get closer than 20 points again and trailed by as many as 34.
Christian Knox (
Sr.-Ypsilanti, Mich.) led the Muskies with 18 points, hitting 7 of 13 shots including 4 of 9 from three-point range. Buliox and
Isaiah Hammond (
So.-Milwaukee, Wis.) added 11 points each.
Aiden Polzin (
So.-Clintonville, Wis.) also pulled down seven rebounds.
Jackson led Concordia with 24 points and added seven rebounds and Jurss finished with 19 points and 10 assists. Pruss also scored eight points and ripped down a career-high 16 rebounds. The Falcons finished the game making 39 of 74 from the field, including 51.2% (21 of 41) in the first half and 54.5% (18 of 33) in the second half.
The Muskies will look forward to returning to the confines of the Woltzen Gymnasium when they host Aurora University Saturday starting at 2 p.m.
