APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team put on a dominating performance on Saturday at Alexander Gymnasium and rolled to an 85-51 Midwest Conference victory over Knox College.
Jamie Nikitas led three Vikings (6-10, 3-8 MWC) in double figures with 21 points, and he added seven rebounds and three steals. Nikitas moved past three Lawrence Hall of Famers, head coach Joel DePagter, Matt Miota and Joel Ungrodt into seventh place on Lawrence’s career scoring list with 1,263 points.
Lawrence’s Jeremy Stephani hit four 3-pointers on his way to 14 points, and Ben Peterson scored 11 points and added a game-high eight rebounds.
Braden Adams scored nine points to lead Knox (1-14, 0-10).
Lawrence tied a season high with 12 3-pointers, and the Vikings shot a season-best 40 percent (12-30) from beyond the arc. Lawrence also dominated the glass with a 43-25 rebounding edge as the Vikings grabbed 17 offensive boards.
The Vikings started to pull away late in the first half. Lawrence was up 28-21 when it went on a 17-4 run over the final 5:22 of the half. Connor Weas scored six points in that stretch, Stephani added five and Nikitas had four as the Vikings led 45-25 at the break.
Lawrence then opened the second half with another huge run to seal the victory. The Vikings limited Knox to just four points over the first 10:42 of the second half. Lawrence pushed the lead to 67-29 as Peterson scored six points and George Mavrakis added five during that stretch.
Lawrence would go on to lead by as many as 39 points as all 10 Vikings scored at least four points in the game.