The rivalry between schools separated by about 35 minutes on the now mostly four-lane Highway 23 has been owned by the Sabres of late. Marian has won seven straight in the series, including a 96-90 victory Feb. 3, 2024 in Fond du Lac in a game where the Muskies shot 55% but the Sabres were even better at 59.3% as well as 19-for-21 from the free throw line (90.5%). Marian also won the last meeting at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium by an 86-70 count Jan. 17, 2023. Before the Sabres' current streak in the series, Lakeland had won seven straight over Marian, including most recently a 95-59 blowout win at home Jan. 25, 2020. The series dates back to Dec. 18, 1973, when Lakeland won the first meeting ever between the schools 89-48.

Lakeland last time out: Defeated Concordia Chicago 77-76 (OT) Saturday
The Muskies edged the Cougars in overtime at home on Saturday for their third Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference win of the season. Lakeland shot just 31.8% for the game, including 8 of 36 from three-point range (22.2%) and had four players foul out, and also went without a field goal the final four minutes of overtime. Lakeland hit 9 of 12 free throws in the extra session, though, and Gavin Saunders-in off the bench for the first time all game-grabbed the rebound when CUC missed a potential tying free throw with :00.8 left. Jaxson Dillon scored 22 points, Camren McIntosh came off the bench to score 17 points, Cliff McCray added a double-double with 12 poitns and 10 rebounds and Parker Braun added eight points plus a career-high 10 rebounds.

Marian last time out: Won at Aurora 68-67 Saturday
The Sabres rallied from a big second half deficit to win on the road and complete a season sweep of the Spartans. Marian trailed by 18 with 15 minutes left and was still down by 14 with just over 8 1/2 minutes left before mounting a rally. Andrew Ayeni's layup with 1:08 left gave the Sabres their first lead of the game, and Aurora missed a three-point attempt in the final seconds. Sam Gingras scored 21 points to lead Marian, which shot 51.4% (19 of 37), including 9 of 17 from three-point range, but committed 18 turnovers.

Marian has been the turnaround story of the NACC so far this season, racing to an 11-0 start before losses to Wisconsin Lutheran and Concordia Wisconsin. The Sabres finished 5-20 overall last year and 5-13 in conference, but this year have seven new players among their top 10 in the rotation, including a number of transfers.