Men’s Basketball

GALESBURG, Ill. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team had one of its best shooting games of the season and rolled to a 76-54 Midwest Conference win over Knox College on Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium.

The Vikings (6-10, 4-7 MWC) shot 55.1 percent from the floor, including 50 percent from beyond the arc.

Freshman Jeremy Stephani scored a game-high 17 points off the bench for the Vikings. Stephani was 6-for-8 from the floor, including 5-for-7 from 3-point range.

Trace Sonnleitner added 14 points for Lawrence, and Mitch Willer added 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the floor. Guard Jamie Nikitas had a career-high eight assists to go with eight points and six rebounds for the Vikings.

Caylab Herrera came off the bench to pace Knox (4-12, 2-9) with 10 points.

Lawrence got off to a fast start, hitting seven of its first nine shots from the floor to build a 20-10 with 12:59 left in the opening half. The Vikings cooled off a bit after that but led 39-27 at the half.

The Vikings then opened the second half on a 19-6 run to stretch the lead to 58-33 with 11:29 remaining. Sonnleitner scored seven points in that stretch as the Vikings knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers.

Lawrence’s largest lead would be 26 points as every Viking got to play in the second half. Twelve of Lawrence’s 14 players scored at least two points.

Box score

RIPON, Wis. — The Ripon College men’s basketball team rallied late in the second half Wednesday and went on to a 72-63 Midwest Conference win over Lawrence University at the Storzer Center.

Justin Leistikow led Ripon with 21 points as he went 8-for-8 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and Kyle Loughrin added 19 points. Ripon’s Ty Sabin, second in the nation in scoring at 29.3 points per game, was limited to 15 points and hit only 4-of-13 shots from the floor.

Ryan DePouw paced Lawrence (5-10, 3-6) with 16 points, and Pete Winslow added 10 points as he connected on 3-of-4 shots from 3-point range. Mitch Willer had a perfect night as he added eight points on 3-for-3 shooting from the floor and 2-for-2 from the foul line.

Ripon had a 12-point advantage at 24-12 before Lawrence rallied in the first half. Lawrence went on a 15-2 run over the final 7:14 of the first half to take a 27-26 lead at the break. Winslow, Jeremy Stephani and Troy Miller had four points apiece over that stretch for the Vikings.

Lawrence led by as many as four points twice in the second half before Ripon rallied. In a four-minute stretch, the Red Hawks went on a 19-5 run to turn a 49-45 deficit into a 64-54 lead with 4:52 remaining. Loughrin scored seven points during the run for Ripon.

Winslow countered with a 3-pointer, and Vikings picked up a three-point play from Willer and a jumper from DePouw to cut the margin to 67-62 with 2:25 left.

Sabin then scored the game’s next four points, sandwiched around a missed Lawrence 3-pointer, to push the lead back to 71-62 and seal the victory.

Box score

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team faces a pair of Midwest Conference road games this week. Lawrence travels to rival Ripon College on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. game at the Storzer Center. Lawrence then takes the trip to Galesburg, Ill., for a 3 p.m. game at Knox College on Saturday.

Preview

APPLETON, Wis. — The Cornell College men’s basketball team rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to post a 72-61 Midwest Conference win over Lawrence University on Saturday at Alexander Gymnasium.

Nick Bobb scored 23 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead Cornell (4-11, 3-7 MWC).

Ryan DePouw led Lawrence (5-9, 3-6) with 16 points, and Jamie Nikitas added 14 points. Mitch Willer came off the bench for Lawrence to score 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting in just 10 minutes of action. Trace Sonnleitner added 11 points for the Vikings.

Lawrence pulled away in the final three minutes of the first half to build a double-digit lead. The Vikings scored eight of the half’s final 10 points, with six coming from Nikitas, to grab a 40-29 lead at the break.

The Rams scored the first six points of the second half before DePouw hit a 3-pointer with 14:35 left to push the lead back to 43-35.

Cornell kept chipping away at the advantage and took the lead at 53-52 on Bobb’s layup with 8:05 remaining. The Rams steadily pulled away from that point and were up 65-58 after a pair of DePouw free throws with 1:55 left.

Lawrence was forced to foul at that point, and Cornell converted 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:47 to seal the victory.

The Rams went 10-for-20 from the floor, including 4-for-8 from 3-point range, in the second half. Cornell’s defense also limited Lawrence to just 21 second half points on 24 percent shooting (6-for-25). Lawrence also committed eight of its 12 turnovers in the second half.

Box score

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team faces Cornell College in a Midwest Conference game on Saturday at Alexander Gymnasium with the Vikings looking for their second win in a row. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. It’s also alumni weekend for the basketball team, and the men’s alumni game is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Preview

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team turned back a Carroll University rally on Tuesday and posted a 69-62 Midwest Conference victory at Alexander Gymnasium.

Jamie Nikitas scored 18 points, including two on a clutch jumper in the final minute, and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for the Vikings (5-8, 3-5 MWC). Jeremy Stephani came off the bench to add 15 points for Lawrence.

Bryan Nagy had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds for Carroll (7-6, 4-4). Kyle Keranen scored a team-best 18 points for the Pioneers.

Lawrence led 30-26 at the half but stretched that lead early in the second half. The Vikings scored eight consecutive points, including 3-pointers from Stephani and Trace Sonnleitner, to push the lad to 46-32 with 13:49 left.

Carroll responded with a 12-2 run, capped by a pair of Marcus Johnson free throws, to cut the lead to 48-44 with 9:37 left. The Pioneers kept reeling the Vikings in, and finally grabbed the lead at 61-59 on a pair of Keranen free throws with 2:15 remaining.

The Vikings broke Carroll’s press on the next possession and got a dunk from Mitch Willer, who picked up six points, five rebounds and three blocks, to tie the game at 61-61.

After a Keranen miss, Willer was fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws to give Lawrence a 63-61 lead. Johnson then missed a contested layup, and Nikitas hit a 17-foot fadeaway jumper with the shot clock running out to put the Vikings up 65-61 with 38 seconds left.

Keranen was fouled on the next possession and hit one free throw to cut the lead to 65-62, but the Vikings hit four consecutive free throws in the final 20 seconds to seal the victory.

Sonnleitner added 11 points and five rebounds for the Vikings before fouling out, and Ryan DePouw chipped in with 10 points.

Box score

MONMOUTH, Ill. — The Monmouth College men’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half on Saturday to post a 74-57 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Glennie Gymnasium.

Andrew Mathison scored 25 points on 11-for-12 shooting from the floor to pace the Scots (9-3, 6-1 MWC). Will Jones added 12 rebounds to go with eight points for Monmouth.

Trace Sonnleitner led Lawrence (4-8, 2-5) with 12 points, and Ryan DePouw added 11. Connor Weas came off the bench to score 10 points for the Vikings and hit all four of his shots from the floor.

Lawrence trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, but the Vikings went on a 17-7 run over the final 7:51 to take a 32-28 lead at the break.

The Vikings then opened the second half on a 12-6 run, capped by a Jamie Nikitas free throw, to take a 44-34 lead with 14:37 remaining.

Monmouth then scored the game’s next 13 points to take a 47-44 lead with 9:19 left. The Scots edged away from there, and Lawrence never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

Box score

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team continues Midwest Conference play with a pair of games in a four-day stretch. The Vikings travel to Monmouth College for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday. Lawrence then returns home to Alexander Gymnasium for a 7:30 p.m. game with Carroll University on Tuesday.

Preview

APPLETON, Wis. — The 20th-ranked St. Norbert College men’s basketball team battled to an 81-72 Midwest Conference victory over a scrappy Lawrence University squad Wednesday night at Alexander Gymnasium.

St. Norbert big man Steven Hofacker paced the Green Knights (11-1, 7-0 MWC) with 19 points and seven rebounds. Austin Elliott added 18 points and six assists for the Green Knights, who shot 65.1 percent (28-for-43) for the game.

Trace Sonnleitner led Lawrence (4-7, 2-4) and all scorers with 21 points. Jamie Nikitas added 19 points, and Ryan DePouw had 10 points and a team-high five assists.

Like a pair of heavyweight fighters, the teams traded haymakers in the first half. St. Norbert shot 17-for-24 from the floor in the first half, but Lawrence was 15-for-29 from the floor and hit eight 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.

Sonnleitner scored 17 points and went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc to keep the Vikings close in the first half. St. Norbert built a seven-point lead late in the first half, but Sonnleitner hit a jumper and Jamie Nikitas had a three-point play to trim the advantage to 43-39 at the break.

St. Norbert went on a 12-5 run to open the second half as Hofacker scored six points during that burst. Lawrence chipped away at the lead and cut it to 68-62 on a pair of Sonnleitner free throws with 5:34 left.

Mitch Winter answered with a 3-pointer for St. Norbert and Andrew Schwoerer hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 72-62 with 4:17 remaining. Lawrence cut the lead to seven on a pair of occasions after that, but St. Norbert hit six consecutive free throws in the final 58 seconds to seal the victory.

Box score

GRINNELL, Iowa — The Grinnell College men’s basketball team pulled away in the final minutes and posted a 126-116 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Saturday at Darby Gymnasium.

Jack Taylor led Grinnell (5-6, 3-3 MWC) with 21 points but hit just 5-of-15 shots from the floor.

Trace Sonnleitner led Lawrence and all scorers with 23 points as he hit 9-of-12 shots from the floor. Freshman guard Jeremy Stephani added 22 points for the Vikings (4-6, 2-3). Stephani went 6-for-7 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and was 7-for-8 from the foul line.

Jamie Nikitas added 19 points and Ryan DePouw had 18 for the Vikings, and both players had eight rebounds.

Lawrence shot 69.4 percent from the floor and shot 68.4 percent from beyond the arc as the Vikings hit 13-of-19 shots from long distance.

Grinnell led by as many as 16 points in the first half before Lawrence cut the lead to 63-54 at the half. Lawrence opened the second half on a 12-2 run and took a 66-65 lead with 16:38 left on Andrew Borresen’s 3-pointer.

The teams traded the lead before Lawrence built a 94-86 advantage with 10:10 remaining. Grinnell rallied and took the lead back for good at 101-99 on Julian Marx’s 3-pointer with 7:06 left.

Lawrence trailed 104-101 after Nikitas’ layup with 6:32 left, but Grinnell hit its final seven shots from the floor to pull away for the win.

Box score