APPLETON, Wis. — A scoring outburst midway through the second half Wednesday led the Carroll University men’s basketball team to a 70-51 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.
Kyle Keranen led three Carroll players in double figures with 18 points. Marcus Johnson added 17 points and seven rebounds, and Bryan Nagy had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Pioneers (18-4, 14-3 MWC).
Jamie Nikitas paced Lawrence (9-13, 6-11) with 17 points and nine rebounds. Mitch Willer added 13 points and five rebounds for the Vikings, who shot just 32.7 percent for the game, including 25 percent from beyond the arc.
Lawrence trailed 41-35 after Willer hit a 3-pointer on his first attempt from beyond the arc this season. The Pioneers then went on a 13-2 run, capped by a pair of Keranen free throws, over the next 5:38 to take a 54-37 lead with 6:50 left.
Nikitas hit a jumper to cut the lead to 54-39, but Carroll scored the game’s next six points to pull out to a 60-39 advantage. Lawrence didn’t get closer than 19 points the rest of the way.
The game was tight throughout the first half with eight lead changes and six ties. Lawrence’s biggest lead of the half was 17-14 after a 3-pointer by Jeremy Stephani, but the Pioneers grabbed their biggest lead of the half at 28-22 on Tanner Zaeske’s 3-pointer with 14 seconds left.
Lawrence’s Connor Weas then buried a 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer to trim the margin to 28-25 at the break.