The rivalry between schools separated by about 35 minutes on the now mostly four-lane Highway 23 has been owned by the Sabres of late. Marian has won four straight in the series, including both matchups last year. The first was a 75-59 victory Jan. 19, 2022, when the Sabres outscored the Muskies 54-24 over the game's final 21 minutes. Marian then blitzed Lakeland 105-79 in both teams' regular season finale at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium Feb. 16, 2022, shooting an incredible 76.7% in the first half and 64.5% for the game. The Sabres also won both meetings in the COVID-19 pandemic-affected 2020-21 season; before that, the Muskies had won seven straight over Marian, including most recently a 95-59 blowout win at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium Jan. 25, 2020. The series dates back to Dec. 18, 1973, when Lakeland won the first meeting ever between the schools 89-48.

Lakeland last time out: Defeated Aurora 103-95 Saturday
The Muskies rebounded from lopsided losses on the road in their previous two games to return to offensive form against the Spartans. Christian Knox scored a career-high 30 points, hitting 8 of 9 three-point attempts, and Lakeland made 15 of 27 from three-point range to earn a season split against Aurora. Cam Jaeger also scored 25 points and hit five threes and the Muskies won despite the Spartans making 56.3% of their shots. Aurora made just 18 of 33 free throw attempts and committed 18 turnovers, while Lakeland took care of business at the line, making 26 of 32 foul shots in topping 100 points for the fifth time this season.

Marian last time out: Won at Rockford 75-71 last Tuesday
The Sabres came back from a 12-point second half deficit to win on the road to stay among the leaders in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. Tyler Gouin cored 20 points and David Britton added 19, and the duo combined to score 16 straight points and get the lead back after the Regents took their largest lead of the game at 57-45 with just under 17 minutes to play. Marian also held Rockford to 0-for-9 three-point shooting in the second half after the host Regents made 8 of 16 from deep in the first 20 minutes. The Sabres have been idle since that game after receiving an administrative forfeit Saturday when they were scheduled to play Concordia Chicago.

About the Sabres: Marian is the defending NACC champions after coming from the No. 5 seed to win four games and take the NACC Tournament title, its first league title and trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament since 2014. The Sabres returned two starters from that team-backcourt mates Britton and Gouin, and Britton is a two-time first team all-conference selection. Marian got off to a slow start losing its first three games this season as part of a tough non-conference schedule, but the Sabres also scored maybe the best win by a NACC team so far this season, defeating then-nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh on the road Dec. 30.

Near-record performance: Christian Knox made eight three-pointers on Saturday against Aurora, a season high for a Muskie. His mark was not a Lakeland single-game record, though; that honor still belongs to Kris Saiberlich, now a Marian assistant coach who has held the record for nearly 14 years now, since hitting 10 triples against Wisconsin Lutheran Jan. 19, 2008.