PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's basketball team hung did its best to play spoiler but Wisconsin Lutheran College finally pulled away in the closing minutes to defeat the Muskies 87-75 Saturday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
The Warriors wrapped up the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season championship with a hard-earned win and claimed the top seed in next week's NACC Tournament. Lakeland saw its season end with a 6-19 overall record and a 4-14 mark in the NACC.
The Muskies brought a good energy on Senior Day for three members of this year's team, with
Kai Buliox (
Milwaukee, Wis.),
Caleb Fuller (
Oshkosh, Wis.) and
Cam Jaeger (
Oostburg, Wis.) all honored before the game. Jaeger and Buliox in particular closed out productive careers with big final games, and Fuller helped get the Muskies off to a solid start with good minutes early in the game.
WLC (21-4 overall, 16-2 NACC) still appeared to have taken control of the game when it built a 17-point lead late in the first half, with a three-pointer by Jacob Stoltz giving the Warriors a 48-31 lead with 3 minutes, 2 seconds left before halftime. The Muskies closed back within nine points at 50-41 by halftime, though, and then were a nuisance throughout much of the second half.
Lakeland got as close as four points on two occasions, when
Asanjai Hunter (
So.-Racine, Wis.) sped up the floor for a layup to make it 61-57 with 15:06 left in the game, and then again when Buliox answered a Lutheran basket with a high-arching jumper to make it 63-59. The Muskies stayed within single digits for most of the half, though, and held the Warriors to 34.1% shooting in the second half, including WLC star Ryan Broeckel making just 4 of 13 shots over the final 20 minutes.
Lakeland was still down seven when Jaeger drained a three-pointer to make it 74-67 with 6:57 left, but the Muskies would go cold over the next five minutes and Wisconsin Lutheran finally put the game away. Grayson Goetz hit a three-pointer to make it 79-67 with 4:04 left, Broeckel split two free throws with 2:21 to play, and A.J. Vos canned a three-pointer to make it 83-67 with 1:44 remaining to effectively end chances at a comeback.
Jaeger finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth career double-double. He finished his career with 1,388 points, passing Bob Guy (1,385 points from 1965-69) to move into 18th on Lakeland's all-time scoring list. Jaeger also made four three-pointers to finish his career with 199 made three-pointers, moving past Joey Burris (197 threes from 2011-15) into second on the Muskies' all-time list, behind only Kris Saiberlich's 324 triples made from 2004-08.
Buliox also scored 17 points and added five rebounds plus a career-high five blocked shots. Hunter also scored 15 points and
Isaiah Hammond (
Jr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) added 11 points and seven rebounds. The Muskies shot 47.3% for the game, making 26 of 55 field goals.
Broeckel led WLC with 26 points and 15 rebounds, Goetz scored 21 points and Stoltz added 20 points. The Warriors finished shooting 39.0% (30 of 77) but posted a 46-37 rebounding advantage that included 19 offensive boards turned into 24 second-chance points. Lutheran won its second straight NACC regular season title under head coach Aaron Aanonsen, former head coach at Lakeland from 2008-17.
