WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team fell to Ashford University 68-52 in the championship game of the Just A Game Winter Classic on Wednesday.
DeAndre Lowery scored a game-high 24 points to pace Ashford (11-4), and Brandon Weston added 14 points.
Davis DeWolfe scored 17 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds to lead Lawrence (5-6). Chris Siebert added 15 points and a game-high four assists for the Vikings.
Ashford, an NAIA Division II school located in Clinton, Iowa, used a 21-2 run midway through the second half to pull away in what had been a tight ballgame.
Lawrence led by as many as five points in the first half, but the Saints rallied to take a 31-30 lead at the half. The game see-sawed early in the second half as well and was tied for the 10th time at 41-41 on Tom Antosz’s layup with 13:26 remaining.
Vesteinn Sveinsson then hit a 3-pointer to start the decisive run for Ashford. The Saints scored 21 points over the next 4:59 to grab a 62-43 lead with 7:52 left. Lowery did much of the damage by scoring eight points in that stretch.
Lawrence committed six turnovers and went 1-for-4 from the floor and 0-for-2 from the foul line during the same stretch.
The Vikings never got closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
Lawrence does not return to action until Jan. 9 when the Vikings host Lake Forest College in a Midwest Conference game.