PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's basketball team saw a nine-point lead nearly slip away in the final minute-plus but withstood a game-winning shot attempt by Milwaukee School of Engineering at the buzzer to hold on for a 74-73 win Tuesday night in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play.

The Muskies won their second straight game going down to the wire at home and finished a season sweep of the Raiders, backing up their overtime win over MSOE in December. Lakeland is now 11-8 overall and 5-7 in the NACC with four conference games left to play.

In a contest that was close and went back-and-forth most of the night, the Muskies seemed to have taken control late with a stretch of four consecutive three-pointers in a span of 1:37, the last by Cam Jaeger (So.-Oostburg, Wis.) capping a 12-3 run for a 68-60 lead with 4:33 left.

Lakeland would push the lead to nine points at 72-63, the largest lead by either team in the game after two free throws by Asanjai Hunter (Fr.-Racine, Wis.), and even got stops on the next two MSOE possessions to whittle the clock down inside 90 seconds to play. The Raiders chipped a point off when Jess Hartmann split two free throws with 1:18 left, but the Muskies still led 72-64 at that point.

The Muskies committed just nine turnovers in the game, but three came in the final 1:10, including back-to-back backcourt miscues allowing MSOE to get within 72-68 with still 59 seconds left. Jaeger followed by knocking down two free throws, but Cade Beekman was then fouled shooting a three-pointer, and the 52.6% foul shooter on the season made all three to cut Lakeland's lead to 74-71 with 47 seconds left.

The Raiders then chose to play defense on the Muskies' next possession and got a stop after a missed jumper. MSOE hurried the ball up and Lakeland fouled to prevent a three-point attempt, with Mason Dopirak canning two free throws to make it 74-73 with 13 seconds left.

The Muskies were able to inbound and get into the frontcourt, but a trap just past midcourt caused another Lakeland turnover with 8.7 seconds left. After a timeout the Raiders had possession with a chance for a game-winning shot, but a contested 19-foot jumper from the corner with two seconds left by Steve Dillard was well off and Lakeland survived for the win.

The ragged finish matched a first half when both teams struggled to score, with MSOE taking a slim 29-27 advantage into halftime as both teams struggled to score in a physical opening 20 minutes. The offenses began to warm up in the second half but the game remained close, with six of the game's 12 ties coming after halftime.

Lakeland shot 27.3% (9 for 33) in the opening half but was much more efficient in the second half, hitting 15 of 26 (57.7%) after halftime to finish the game at 40.7%. Isaiah Hammond (So.-Milwaukee, Wis.) finished with team highs of 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, Kai Buliox (So.-Milwaukee, Wis.) added 13 points and eight rebounds and Jaeger scored 11 points.

MSOE shot 46.7% (28 of 60) and was led by Donovan Carter with a game-high 22 points. The Raiders finished with a39-34 rebounding edge, but hit just two three-pointers in nine tries to Lakeland's 8-for-24 from behind the arc.

The Muskies next go on the road Saturday to take on Rockford University at 2 p.m. in Rockford, Ill.