Lakeland and Benedictine have been meeting since 1949, when the schools were known as Mission House and St. Procopius colleges, respectively. The Eagles swept two matchups between the teams last year, first with a 98-84 win at Lakeland Dec. 14, 2024 and then posting a 90-76 victory at home in the teams' most recent game Feb. 1, 2025. The Muskies' last win in the series was a 97-85 triumph at home Dec. 28, 2023 before the Eagles rallied for a 60-54 win on their homecourt Jan. 27, 2024. The first meeting ever between the schools came over 75 years ago on March 2, 1949, when Mission House defeated St. Procopius 56-48 in Lisle, Ill.

Lakeland last time out: Won at Edgewood 90-69 Wednesday
The Muskies won their second straight game, shooting a season-best 51.7% and taking control in the second half. Lakeland scored the final five points of the first half to take a 45-41 halftime lead, and then outscored the Eagles 45-28 in the second half. Parker Braun set career highs with 16 points and 13 rebounds, Asanjai Hunter scored 23 points and Peyton Mrotek added 20 points.

Hunter recently became the 43rd player in Lakeland men's basketball history to score 1,000 career points, and the senior guard enters Saturday with 1,049 career points. Hunter has moved up to 38th on the Muskies' all-time list, and he comes into the game three points from tying Lakeland Athletics Hall of Famer Mark Wescott for 37th on the all-time list.

Benedictine last time out: Lost to Concordia Wisconsin 90-70 Wednesday
The Eagles lost contact with the Falcons in the final 20 minutes after a close first half and saw their losing streak reach 10 games after the loss at home. Benedictine led by seven late in the first half before Concordia came back to take a 42-39 lead at the break. Benedictine was outscored 48-31 in the second half. Noah Mason led the Eagles with 22 points and 17 rebounds and Connor Glasgow added 14 points, but CUW committed just five turnovers and was led by Logan Landers with 29 points and 13 rebounds.

Benedictine comes in with a 2-11 record and is winless since an 87-76 victory over Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference rival Aurora on Nov. 15. The Eagles finished 9-16 last season and at 8-10 in conference missed the NACC Tournament, and this year have had nine different players start at least one game for a team that has struggled shooting 42.1% and also is getting outrebounded by an average of 4.2 boards per game.