PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Marian University guard Tyler Gouin scored 40 points and the visiting Sabres asserted control as the second half went on to defeat the Lakeland University men's basketball team 86-70 Tuesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
The defending Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference champions shot 64.7% in the second half and continued their recent mastery in the series, defeating the Muskies for the fifth straight time. Lakeland dropped to 9-6 overall and is now 4-5 in the NACC, while Marian improved to 9-6 overall and is 8-2 in conference.
The Muskies led for most of the game's first 25 minutes, but the Sabres slowly took over and turned a close contest lopsided by the end led by Gouin. The senior scored 17 points in the first half to keep Marian in the game, and then was even better with 23 points in the second half.
Lakeland was up by nine points early in the game, led by five at halftime and was back up by eight when
Aiden Polzin (
So.-Clintonville, Wis.) made a three-pointer just out of the halftime break. The Muskies still were within a point with 10 minutes to play and trailed 71-64 after two free throws by Polzin with 5 minutes, 31 seconds left.
The Sabres would put the game away with a 10-1 run in a span of just over two minutes. Gouin scored on a layup, Luke Rogers came up with a steal and pass ahead to Josh Nicklaus for a dunk, and Marian essentially closed it out when Tyler Bunkoske hit consecutive three-pointers from the right corner, both just before the shot clock expired, the latter making it 81-65 with 2:22 left.
The Sabres made 22 of 34 shots in the second half while the Lakeland offense cooled, hitting 13 of 33 (39.4%) in the second 20 minutes. The Muskies also had success getting to the free throw line in the first half, making 14 of 20 foul shots, but made it to the line just five times in the second half, finishing the game at 18 of 25 (72.0%).
Lakeland's best success came early, in fact the Muskies trailed just once at 2-0 in a physical first half.
Caleb Fuller (
Jr.-Oshkosh, Wis.) scored 14 points off the bench, and his layup gave Lakeland an 18-9 lead with 11:43 left in the half. The Sabres would later close back within a point, but Fuller ended the half with seven straight points, the last putting the Muskies up 38-33 going into the break.
Kai Buliox (
So.-Milwaukee, Wis.) scored 18 points and added seven rebounds, hitting 8 of 11 free throws, including 7-for-10 in the first half. Polzin also finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds and Fuller scored 16 off the bench making all seven of his shots, but the rest of the team combined for just 19 points and made 4 of 29 shots.
Lakeland finished the game shooting 42.1% (24 of 57), including 4 of 17 from three-point range. The Muskies also outrebounded the Sabres 36-33, losing for the first time this season while outrebounding an opponent.
Gouin finished making 17 of 24 shots and 6 of 8 from the free throw line. David Britton also added 14 points. Marian finished shooting 53.0% (35 of 66) and committed just nine turnovers while taking advantage of 16 Lakeland turnovers, finishing with a 25-10 lead in points off turnovers.
The Muskies go on the road next, traveling to take on Edgewood College at 2 p.m. Saturday in Madison.
