BAYAMON, Puerto Rico — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team got on top early Sunday and went on to a 68-55 non-conference win over Bard College at the Puerto Rico Classic.
Senior guard Jamie Nikitas posted a double-double with game highs of 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead Lawrence (5-4) to the victory at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez.
Jeremy Stephani added 15 points, Mitch Willer had 10 and Ben Peterson chipped in with eight for the Vikings.
DeVahnte Mosley paced Bard (3-6), a NCAA Division III school in New York, with 19 points.
Bard made the first basket of the game, but Lawrence hit a 3-pointer to grab a 3-2 lead and never trailed again. That was part of a 9-0 run as the Vikings built an early 9-2 edge.
Lawrence followed with a 19-11 outburst to push the lead to 28-13 late in the first half. Bard battled back to cut the margin to 35-24 at the break.
The Vikings held a double-digit advantage until the Raptors went on a scoring run to trim the lead to 41-33 at the 13-minute mark. Lawrence responded with an 11-2 run to take a 52-35 advantage. Nikitas scored six points during the outburst, which was capped by a Stephani 3-pointer. Bard never closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
Lawrence finished the Puerto Rico Classic with a 2-0 record, and the Vikings now take a break for the holidays. Lawrence returns to action and Midwest Conference play when it hosts Grinnell College on Jan. 2.