MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's basketball team shot 54.1% from the field but in a close game throughout Milwaukee School of Engineering made the deciding run late and defeated the Muskies 93-89 Saturday night at the Kern Center.

Jess Hartman converted a three-point play with 4 minutes, 46 seconds left late to put the Raiders ahead for good as part of a quick 7-0 run, and MSOE led the rest of the way to send the Muskies to their fifth straight loss. Lakeland dropped to 5-12 overall and is 3-7 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.

The Muskies and Raiders combined for 14 ties and 10 lead changes, and both teams shot better than 50% in a game that featured plenty of scoring throughout. Lakeland hit 33 of 61 shots, but MSOE (7-10 overall, 4-6 NACC) also converted 51.7% of its shots (31 of 60).

The Muskies appeared to have given themselves some breathing room near the midpoint of the second half when they scored eight straight points to go up 72-64 with 11:35 remaining. Cam Jaeger (Jr.-Oostburg, Wis.) and Brayden Kennedy (Fr.-Manitowoc, Wis.) hit three-pointers sandwiched around a layup by Kai Buliox (Jr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) just after the Raiders had forced the game's 11th tie just seconds earlier.

MSOE came right back, though, scoring 11 straight points in just over two minutes, and Mason Dopirak's three-pointer put the hosts back ahead 75-72 with 9:28 to play. The teams then went back-and-forth for nearly five minutes, until Matus Dopirak tied it with a layup at 79-79 and Hartman converted a three-point play one minute later.

The Raiders pushed the lead to 84-79 on a layup by Carson Cordelli with 4:07 left, but the Muskies got back within three points on two more occasions. The first came when Jaeger hit a three-pointer to cut the MSOE lead to 86-83 with 2:35 left, and the second followed soon after when Isaiah Hammond (Jr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) made one of two free throws to make it 87-74 with 2:04 to play. Lakeland would get no closer, though, and Mason Dopirak's two free throws to make it 93-87 with 18 seconds left made a difficult task virtually impossible.

MSOE held a slim 46-45 halftime lead after an opening 20 minutes that saw the Muskies lead by as much as 11. Asanjai Hunter (So.-Racine, Wis.) hit a jumper with 5:37 left in the first half for a 39-28 lead, but the Raiders rallied and took the lead back with six seconds left in the half when Hartman split two free throws.

Hunter scored 23 points to lead five Lakeland players scoring in double figures. Hunter scored 20 points, Buliox added 15 and Jaeger scored 14 points, with Hammond chipping in 10 points.

Cordelli scored 20 points to lead MSOE, which also featured five players scoring in double figures. The Raiders also outrebounded the Muskies 35-27 and converted 24 of 31 free throws (77.4%).

Lakeland is back home Wednesday when it hosts Rockford University at 7 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.