Pioneers rally to hand Lawrence first conference loss

WAUKESHA, Wis. — The Carroll University men’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to down Lawrence University 81-79 in a Midwest Conference game Tuesday at Van Male Field House.

Kyle Jones poured in 28 points to pace Carroll (5-6, 3-3 MWC). Paul Grosshuesch added 14 points and a game-high 18 rebounds.

Jon Mays paced Lawrence (6-5, 5-1) with 25 points. Erik Borresen had his third consecutive double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Tyler Crisman added 18 points.

Lawrence led by as many as 10 points in the second half when Borresen hit a layup for a 66-56 lead with 6:42 left.

Carroll responed with a 17-5 run over the next 3:53 to take a 73-71 lead with 2:49 remaining. The Pioneers hit 7 of 9 shots from the floor during that stretch and went 3-for-4 from the foul line.

Lawrence got a free throw from Borresen with 2:17 left to cut the lead to 73-72, but Grosshuesch countered with a layup for a 75-72 edge.

After Mays missed a layup, Jones hit two free throws to push the lead to 77-72 with 57 seconds left. Mays got a layup for the Vikings off a pass from Chris Siebert, who finished with a career-high nine assists, to cut the lead to 77-74.

Freshman Brian Gryszkiewicz then stole the ball from Jones with 39 seconds left. Carroll fouled Borresen with 25 seconds left, but he missed both free throws.

Carroll then made four consecutive free throws to push the lead back to 81-74 with 10 seconds left. 

Gryszkiewicz got a layup for the Vikings with five seconds left, and Jones turned the ball over seconds later. Mays hit a 3-pointer to cut the margin to two points, but that came as time expired.

Lawrence returns to the road this weekend when it travels to Grinnell College and Monmouth College.

Box score