Lakeland College

Muskies crush Raiders in first win since 2007

Athletics - posted on 1/28/2012

Senior Josh Regal and junior Jake Schwarz combined for 44 points to lead the Lakeland College men's basketball team to a 95-62 win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering in Northern Athletics Conference cross-division play Saturday afternoon in Woltzen Gym.

Lakeland (15-4, 9-2) won its fourth-straight game and its first over MSOE since 2007 to keep the battle for first place in the NAC North Division tight.

The Raiders and the Muskies went back-and-forth in the opening minutes of the first half, including 4-of-6 shooting from MSOE to contain the nation's ninth leader in scoring offense. Lakeland took control of the game when Schwarz (Sheboygan) hit a jumper to take an 11-9 lead at the 15:50 mark, a lead the team never relinquished.

The Muskies went on a 31-18 run before the half expired and pushed their lead to 15 when Regal hit a buzzer beater to go up 42-27 heading into the locker room.

MSOE cut the lead to 11 in the first two minutes of the second half, but Lakeland shot 47.2 percent from the field and extended its lead to as many as 35 points behind 16 second-half points from Regal (Suring) for the convincing NAC victory.

The Muskies posted a 15-to-7 assist-to-turnover ratio, and didn't allow the Raiders to score any points off turnovers. From the line, Lakeland hit 17-of-18 shots to post a season-high 94.4 percent from the charity stripe.

Schwarz led all scorers with 24 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Regal recorded 20 points and dished out seven assists. Freshman Joey Burris (Kiel) posted one of his best performances yet with 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting.

See what Regal says about his performance tonight: http://youtu.be/Z4PMWYX-Zgg

The Muskies return to NAC action on Jan. 31 as they travel to Madison, Wis., to take on Edgewood College in another battle for first place. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. in the Todd Wehr Edgedome.