PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Wisconsin Lutheran College's Ryan Broeckel converted a go-ahead three-point play with 1:52 left in the game and the Lakeland University men's basketball team's upset bid came up just short in an 87-84 loss Saturday afternoon in its season finale at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies gave the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season champion and nationally ranked Warriors all kinds of fits for the second time this season even in a loss. Lakeland also left a much better final impression than its previous game while finishing with a 7-18 overall record and a 6-12 mark in the NACC.

The Muskies faced a Wisconsin Lutheran team that has been in the NCAA Division III rankings all season and entered 16th in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 Coaches Poll, and came into the game off a lopsided loss at Aurora University on Wednesday. Lakeland looked nothing like the team that fell to the Spartans by 49 points just three days earlier, leading the Warriors for more than 33 minutes on Saturday.

The Muskies hit eight three-pointers in the first half in leading by as much as 13 points at 44-31 late in the half, and took a 44-35 lead into halftime. And though WLC (23-2 overall, 16-2 NACC) scored a quick seven points right out of halftime to get within two, Lakeland built the lead back up to eight and continued to lead until the Warriors' Jacob Stoltz hit a jumper to give Lutheran a 65-64 lead with 6:39 left in the game.

The teams would be separated by one possession for the next five minutes down the stretch, swapping the lead four more times with three ties also mixed in. The Muskies led by three points on three occasions, the last time when Isaiah Hammond (Sr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) canned two free throws to make it 75-72 with 3:26 left, but Wisconsin Lutheran would score nine of the next 12 points capped by Broeckel's go-ahead three-point play with under two minutes left.

Jaxson Dillon (Jr.-Menasha, Wis.) split two free throws with 1:41 remaining to draw the Muskies within two, but Grayson Goetz scored inside to push WLC's lead to four at 83-79. Hammond hit two more free throws to cut the deficit in half with 44 seconds left, but Goetz scored the backbreaker with a driving, spinning layup with 23 seconds left to make it 85-81. Broeckel hit two more free throws to ice the game with five seconds left, while Cliff McCray (Sr.-Madison, Wis.) hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for the final score.

The Muskies came close for the second time this season against the Warriors, after also leading by 20 at halftime in the teams' game down in Milwaukee last month before WLC stormed back for a 90-78 win. In both games Lakeland had two of its best shooting performances of the season, shooting 49.2% both back on Jan. 29 and again on Saturday.

Lakeland shot 51.5% in the first half and hit 8 of 16 from three-point range in leading much of the opening 20 minutes. Hammond scored 12 points, McCray scored 10 and Emmitt Konieczny (Fr.-Marshfield, Wis.) drained three three-pointers for nine points as the Muskies fought off several Warriors runs to take control going into halftime.

Hammond finished scoring 22 points in his final collegiate game and also added six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Asanjai Hunter (Jr.-Racine, Wis.) also scored 19, including 17 in the second half, McCray added 16 points and 12 rebounds and Dillon finished with 12 points.

Goetz scored 28 points to lead Wisconsin Lutheran, which made it final six field goals and rallied to finish shooting 47.2% (34 of 72). Stoltz also scored 24 points and Broeckel added 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The game finished with 14 lead changes and five ties. Hammond closed his career with 963 career points and 611 rebounds, the latter ranking 17th all-time in school history.