MEQUON, Wis. – Asanjai Hunter (Jr.-Racine, Wis.) scored a career-high 29 points but Casey Verhagen had an even bigger night for Concordia University Wisconsin, which outlasted the Lakeland University men's basketball team 100-90 Wednesday night at CUW's R. John Buuck Fieldhouse.

Verhagen also netted a career high with 44 points and added 10 assists and the Falcons made the deciding run late in the game to win the teams' lone meeting this season. Concordia improved to 12-9 overall and 10-5 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, while Lakeland lost its fourth straight and dropped to 6-14 overall and 5-8 in the NACC.

In a game where the Muskies staked an early lead and then the teams seemingly traded baskets for the next 25 minutes, the Falcons finally pulled ahead for good in the game's last seven minutes. Matt Merlo's layup inside gave CUW an 81-80 lead with 6:52 left, and was part of a 13-3 run that gave Concordia what was then its biggest lead of the game at 90-83 after a layup by Logan Landers with 3:31 left.

Lakeland would battle back to within 91-88 after a layup by Tim Ward (Jr.-Plainfield, Ill.) with 2:13 to play, but would get no closer. Verhagen answered with a layup and a Muskies turnover resulted in Verhagen feeding Merlo for a dunk to make it 95-88. Another dunk by Zach Leahy with 40 seconds allowed the CUW lead to swell to nine, and Verhagen closed the game making three of four from the free throw line, including two free throws with 16 seconds left for his 43rd and 44th points.

The Muskies were unable to hold on after leading for nearly 30 minutes of the game, including almost all of the first half and well into the second half. Lakeland built an early 11-point lead less at 20-9 than seven minutes into the game after a three-pointer by Peyton Mrotek (Jr.-Luxemburg, Wis.), and would stay in front the rest of the half and take a 55-50 lead into halftime.

Hunter scored 20 points in the first half, making 7 of 8 field goals including 2 of 3 from three-point range plus all four of his free throws. Verhagen scored 29 points in the first half, making 12 of 16 from the field, and both teams shot well over 50% with the Muskies hitting 56.4% (22 of 39) in the first 20 minutes while Concordia made 18 of 30 (60.0%).

Lakeland continued to hold the point in the second half and stretched the lead to 68-60 after Hunter split two free throws with 14:27 left. The Falcons chipped away but the Muskies always had an answer until Verhagen's layup with 8:23 left gave CUW a 77-76 lead, its first lead since 3-0 in the game's early minutes. Hunter answered with a pair of layups to put the Muskies back up 80-77, but Concordia followed with its game-turning run.

Hunter finished making 9 of 11 from the field and 9 of 11 free throws. Ward also scored 19 points and added eight rebounds, Jaxson Dillon (Jr.-Menasha, Wis.) and Isaiah Hammond (Sr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) scored 13 points each and Cliff McCray (Sr.-Madison, Wis.) also scored 11 points. Lakeland finished shooting 50.8%, making 32 of 63 shots, but missed 10 free throws in the second half and finished hitting 17 of 27 from the line (63.0%).

Verhagen finished making 17 of 25 field goals and 7 of 8 from the free throw line. Landers also scored 25 points and added 12 rebounds. The Falcons finished shooting 57.1%, making 36 of 63 shots, as well as 24 of 30 free throws (80.0%).

Lakeland is back home on Saturday when it welcomes Dominican University for a 1 p.m. start at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium. It also will be Senior Day for the Muskies with the team honoring its two seniors Hammond and McCray before the game.