Men's Basketball Looks For First-Ever NCAA Bid
Feb. 26, 2004
by: Corey Kempf
With Wisconsin Lutheran's upset of number one seed Concordia University on Sunday, the Lake Michigan Conference Tournament Final will not see the top seed win the tournament for an amazing fifth straight year. Although it hurt the previous two seasons when Lakeland won the regular season, the curse of the number one seed is a blessing for the Muskies this year.

Lakeland (15-12) is the highest seed in the final at number three. They emerged victorious over Maranatha (#6) in the first round and stole the second round game from Edgewood (#2) to advance to the final. The Warriors (12-14) were the fifth seed coming into the tournament but didn't act like it, upsetting both MSOE (#4) and Concordia (#1) on their way to the final.

Senior guard Cory Nickel will lead the Muskies as he has all season. He is fourth in scoring in conference with 20.3 points per game and fourth in assists per game.

Nickel and the Muskies will also look to force it down inside, where junior center Nick Zeck will be waiting. Zeck is averaging 10.7 points per game this season and 7.2 rebounds per game.

The Warriors boast the number two and number three leading scorers in the LMC in senior guard John Urbanek (21.0 PPG) and junior guard Kevin Christensen (20.6 PPG).

In their two regular season games this year, the Muskies won both even though Urbanek and Christensen scored relatively well in both games. The key was that Lakeland held the rest of the team virtually scoreless while attacking the Warriors with a strong inside-outside combination and getting great help off the bench.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7pm this Saturday at the Wehr Center on the Lakeland Campus.