RIVER FOREST, Ill. – Max Justic (Fr.-Chicago, Ill.) hit the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer and the Lakeland University men's basketball team edged Dominican University 70-69 Saturday afternoon at the Igini Sports Forum.

Justic's three gave the Muskies their only lead of the second half and capped a comeback from down five points with less than 30 seconds left in the game. Lakeland won for the first time in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play and snapped a seven-game losing skid, improving to 3-9 overall and 1-4 in conference.

The Muskies' final possession came after Elijah Daugherty hit the second of two free throws for Dominican (1-11 overall, 1-4 NACC). Jaxson Dillon (Sr.-Menasha, Wis.) rushed the ball up the left side of the court and stopped on the left block just outside the paint after a double-team by the Stars. He skipped a pass across to the right wing to an open Justic, who shot-faked to get a defender past, took a dribble to the right and shot an open three that swished through the net as the clock hit zeroes.

Lakeland trailed 67-62 when Dominican's Frank Paszkowski hit the first of two free throws with 36 seconds left. The Stars would missed three of their final five free throws, though, and the Muskies took advantage. Justic was fouled attempting a three-pointer with 28 seconds left and sank all three to make it 67-65, and after Daugherty split two free throws with 23 seconds remaining it was Parker Braun (Jr.-Brillion, Wis.) making two free throws to cut the Dominican lead to 68-67 with 14 seconds to play. Daugherty then split two more foul shots with 11 seconds left to set the stage for Justic's game-winner.

Lakeland trailed 32-24 at halftime and by as many as 11 points late in the first half. The Muskies came back to tie the score four times in the second half, first on a layup by Dillon making it 49-49 with 7:10 left and the last time when Emmitt Konieczny (So.-Marshfield, Wis.) made two from the line with 1:40 left to knot the score at 62-62. The Stars scored the next five points, though, including Daugherty making two free throws with 1:30 left and then a layup 35 seconds later.

The Muskies got off to a good start to the game, leading 12-4 just over 5 1/2 minutes in, but scored just 12 points over the final 14:26 of the period. Dominican took its first lead when Paszkowski's two free throws made it 19-17 with 6:37 left in the half, and the Stars closed the first half on a 28-9 run until Konieczny hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the hosts' lead to eight at the break.

Asanjai Hunter (Sr.-Racine, Wis.) scored 20 points to lead Lakeland, Justic scored 16 and Peyton Mrotek (Sr.-Luxemburg, Wis.) added 12 points. Konieczny also added eight points off the bench and Braun also pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds. The Muskies shot 38.3% for the game, making 23 of 60 shots, but stayed in it making 20 of 26 from the free throw line.

Daugherty scored 25 points off the bench for the Stars, who shot 37.5% (21 of 56) from the field. Dominican also made 23 of 33 foul shots (69.7%) but missed nine free throws in the second half (14 of 23).

Lakeland is on the road again for its next game Wednesday when it takes on Edgewood University at 7 p.m. in Madison.