Men's Basketball can't get past division-leading Lakeland, 59-54
| Published: 01/29/2013 |
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MILWAUKEE — MSOE held reigning all-time Northern Athletic Conference scoring leader Jake Schwarz to just 14 points, but couldn't topple NAC North Division leader Lakeland College, losing 59-54 Tuesday night at the Kern Center.
Lakeland (17-5, 10-3 NAC) built a lead as large as 12 points in the first half, but saw its advantage dwindle to one after Austin Stueck (Fr./South Milwaukee, Wis./AE-CM) both blocked a Rylee Hernandez three-pointer and found Jeremiah Erdmann (So./Oakfield, Wis./BM) for a layup on a subsequent fast break to make it 40-39 with 12:18 remaining. The Raiders would get no closer, though, as the lead would grow as large as seven before the end of the game.
The win served as a measure of revenge for the Muskies, as MSOE (13-8, 7-5 NAC) had stopped their season-opening, eight-game conference win streak, 75-70, Jan. 17 at Lakeland. Including that loss, the Muskies entered as losers of three of their last four contests.
MSOE and its conference-leading defense largely contained Schwarz, a senior forward averaging 22.9 points per game this season. The 14-point night equaled the Muskies' earlier loss to the Raiders and a Jan. 15 Lakeland win at Edgewood as Schwarz's lowest-scoring games of the year.
Junior Justin Ward carried much of the load instead for Lakeland. Despite shooting just 5-of-11 from the field and 6-of-11 from the free-throw line, Ward led all scorers with 17.
MSOE has now lost its last three games, largely due to cold shooting. The Raiders continued the recent trend tonight, hitting on just 27.9 percent of their shots, including just 20 percent shooting (3-of-15) from three-point territory. MSOE has shot just 30.3 percent on the whole and a paltry 17 percent from beyond the arc during the skid. Lakeland didn't fare much better tonight, as the NAC's top-scoring team shot just 31.5 percent.
An MSOE victory would have moved the Raiders within one-half game of Lakeland in the NAC North Division standings. Instead, MSOE falls to fourth place in the six-team division, behind the Muskies and two other conference-game winners from tonight, Concordia University Wisconsin (9-3) and Marian (8-4). Concordia beat fifth-place Edgewood at home, 67-50, while Marian got a home-court win over last-place Maranatha, 71-56.
Stueck led all Raider scorers with 12. Victor Bande (Sr./Madrid, Spain/IE) and Jaren Singh (Jr./Madison, Wis./BM) each added 11.
MSOE will try to halt its recent slide Saturday when it faces NAC South Division foe Dominican. It will be the second game of a three-game homestand for the Raiders, as well as the second game of a doubleheader with the MSOE women's basketball team. The women's game will begin at 2 p.m. CST, while the men's will begin at approximately 4:15. Tickets will be good for both games and are available at the Kern Center Box Office.
