RIVER FOREST, Ill. – The Lakeland University men's basketball team struggled in its final non-conference game of the season, falling at Dominican University 86-67 Thursday night at the Igini Sports Forum.

Dominican scored the first five points of the game and the Muskies never led in the non-conference matchup between Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference foes. Lakeland dropped to 11-10 overall while Dominican improved to 7-15.

The Muskies shot just 32.4% (11 of 34) in the first half and 36.2% for the game, making 25 of 69 shots from the field. The host Stars shot better at 44.4% (32 of 72) and also finished with a big 52-39 rebounding edge, a 19-rebound swing after the Muskies had won the battle on the glass 45-39 in the teams' first meeting in December, an 82-70 Lakeland win.

The Muskies started slow but still trailed by just two midway through the first half, after Asanjai Hunter (Fr.-Racine, Wis.) split two free throws to cut Dominican's lead to 19-17. The Stars went on a 12-2 run late in the half, though, holding Lakeland to just two points over a stretch of more than 6 1/2 minutes, and would lead 39-27 at halftime.

Dominican also came out of halftime fast, scoring the first eight points of the second half to build a 47-27 lead. The Stars would lead by as many as 25 points and the Muskies would not make a serious dent in the deficit until the final minutes, getting as close as 14 at 81-67 after a Robby Michael (Fr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) three-pointer with 1:42 left.

Isaiah Hammond (So.-Milwaukee, Wis.) scored a team-high 12 points and added nine rebounds to lead Lakeland. Christian Knox (Sr.-Ypsilanti, Mich.) added 11 points off the bench and Cam Jaeger (So.-Oostburg, Wis.) scored nine points and added four assists.

Joshua West led Dominican with a game-high 24 points, making 9 of 17 shots from the field, including three three-pointers. Jacob Riedl added 16 points and 14 rebounds.

The Muskies are back home Saturday to face Benedictine University at 2 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.