Men’s Basketball

BELOIT, Wis. — All five starters scored in double figures, and the Lawrence University men’s basketball team rolled to a 97-83 Midwest Conference victory over Beloit College on Wednesday at Flood Arena.

Lawrence (10-10, 8-7 MWC) shot a sizzling 60.7 percent from the floor, including 51.9 percent from beyond the 3-point line. The Vikings also went 15-for-17 (88.2 percent) from the foul line.

Chris Siebert poured in 28 points to pace the Vikings, and Ryan DePouw added 21. Forward Chase Nelson added 12 points, and guards Brian Gryszkiewicz and Jamie Nikitas had 10 points apiece. Gryszkiewicz also handed out a career-high eight assists. Trace Sonnleiter came off the bench to chip in with 10 points for the Vikings.

Steve McAfee and James Lazarcik both had double-doubles for Beloit (8-12, 6-9). McAfee had 28 points and 10 rebounds, and Lazarcik had 21 points and 15 rebounds.

The game was tight until the latter stages of the first half. Lawrence led 35-32 and then outscored the Bucs 23-11 over the final 6:18 of the opening half. Lawrence went 9-for-11 from the floor during that stretch, and Siebert scored 12 points during the run.

The Vikings led 58-43 at the half, and Lawrence never let Beloit back into the game. DePouw scored nine points in the opening five minutes of the second half as Lawrence stretched the lead to 21 at 73-52.

Beloit never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way as Lawrence has won two straight and three of its last four.

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JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Chris Siebert poured in 26 points to lead the Lawrence University men’s basketball team to an 82-79 Midwest Conference victory at Illinois College on Saturday.

Siebert hit 7-of-11 shots from the floor, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range, on his way to his second-highest scoring total of the season. Jamie Nikitas added 20 points, five rebounds, four steals and four assists for Lawrence (9-10, 7-7 MWC).

Zeke Light came off the bench to score 19 points for Illinois College (11-8, 7-7).

The victory gave Lawrence a season sweep of the Blueboys and kept the Vikings’ hopes for a Midwest Conference Tournament berth alive. The Vikings, posting just their second league road win of the season, are now tied for fifth place in the MWC with the top four teams making the conference tournament.

It looked like it was going to be relatively easy for the Vikings, who were playing without head coach Joel DePagter. The flu knocked out DePagter, who had to be hospitalized on Thursday and didn’t make the trip to Illinois College.

Lawrence was hot from the outset and led 13-2 just 2:59 into the game. The Vikings led by as many as 17 points in the first half and settled for a 43-33 lead at the break.

Lawrence built its lead to 70-49 with 8:05 left, but the Blueboys then put on a furious rally. Illinois College went on a 15-3 run to cut the margin to single digits at 73-64 with 2:53 remaining.

Forced to foul, the Blueboys got a helping hand from Lawrence as the Vikings hit just six of their next 12 free throws. That allowed the Blueboys to trim the lead to 79-73.

After Siebert hit 1-of-2 free throws for an 80-73 lead with 20 seconds left, Brandon Barry connected on two free throws for the Blueboys. The Vikings then turned it over, and Spencer Campbell’s layup with 12 seconds left cut the lead to 80-77.

Siebert was fouled again and hit two free throws with eight seconds left for an 82-77 lead, but Campbell got a layup with five seconds remaining to cut the margin to 82-79. Lawrence inbounded the ball and was able to dribble out the final seconds for the win.

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APPLETON, Wis. — The No. 8 St. Norbert College men’s basketball team pulled away late and held on for a 79-69 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Wednesday at Alexander Gymnasium.

Kam Cerroni and Austin Elliott scored 21 points apiece to lead the Green Knights (18-1, 14-0 MWC), who clinched a share of the conference title. Andrew Schwoerer added 20 points for St. Norbert.

Ryan DePouw scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds to pace Lawrence (8-10, 6-7). Brian Gryszkiewicz added 14 points and four assists, and Max Burgess came off the bench to score 12 points for the Vikings.

Lawrence had its last lead of the game at 49-48 on Gryszkiewicz’s layup with 14:40 remaining. The Green Knights went on an 11-2 run to grab a 59-51 edge with 9:59 left. Jamie Nikitas then hit a 3-pointer for Lawrence to trim the margin to 59-54 with 8:16 left.

St. Norbert scored the game’s next seven points, capped by Schwoerer’s layup, to take a 66-54 lead with 6:16 remaining. Lawrence, which led by as many as 10 points in the first half, battled back to trim the lead to 72-64 on a pair of DePouw free throws with 2:04 remaining.

The Green Knights then hit five free throws and got a layup in the final 1:54 to seal the victory.

St. Norbert really won the game at the foul line where it enjoyed a huge advantage. The Green Knights, who were whistled for only 11 fouls, went 22-for-28 from the stripe while Lawrence shot only six free throws on the evening.

Lawrence took away some of that advantage by connecting from long range. The Vikings went 13-for-28 from 3-point range with Burgess going 4-for-6 to lead the way.

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APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team pulled away early in the second half and cruised to a 67-53 Midwest Conference victory over Monmouth College on Saturday at Alexander Gymnasium.

Junior forward Ryan DePouw paced Lawrence (8-9, 6-6 MWC) with 20 points and connected on 4-of-5 shots from 3-point range. Jamie Nikitas had a double-double with 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with a game-high six steals for the Vikings. Brian Gryszkiewicz chipped in with 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals for Lawrence.

Cole Jackson led Monmouth (5-13, 4-9) with 12 points.

Lawrence, which has beaten Monmouth 12 consecutive times, led only 29-26 late in the first half when Nikitas buried a 3-pointer. Gryszkiewicz followed with a layup off a pass from Nikitas. After a Ben Friday layup for Monmouth, DePouw nailed a 3-pointer at the first half buzzer to put Lawrence up 37-28 at the break.

Lawrence still held that nine-point edge four-plus minutes into the second half when the Vikings pulled away for good. Chris Siebert started a 9-0 run by hitting a 3-pointer, and Nikitas followed with a three-point play for a 48-33 lead. Nikitas then hit a 3-pointer with 13:03 left for a 51-33 edge.

The Scots trimmed the lead to 51-37, but a three-point play from Trace Sonnleitner and a Tyler Mazur layup quickly pushed Lawrence’s lead back to 56-37. Monmouth got no closer than the final margin of 14 points the rest of the way.

Lawrence returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts No. 8 St. Norbert College on Wednesday.

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WAUKESHA, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half, but Carroll University hung on for an 84-78 Midwest Conference victory on Tuesday at Van Male Fieldhouse.

The Vikings trailed by 15 points early in the second half, but Lawrence trimmed the margin to one before Carroll recovered. The Pioneers built the lead back to double digits and then had to hold on in the final minutes.

Trace Sonnleitner paced Lawrence (7-9, 5-6 MWC) and all scorers with a career-high 21 points. The sophomore forward went 7-for-9 from the floor, including 5-for-5 from 3-point range.

Chris Siebert added 19 points for the Vikings, and Ryan DePouw had 16 points and a team-high six rebounds.

Kyle Keranen led Carroll (10-7, 7-5) with 18 points.

Carroll, which led by 10 at the half, pushed the lead to 49-34 with 15:54 remaining. Lawrence then scored the game’s next 13 points, including the final seven from Siebert, to trim the lead to 49-47 with 11:03 remaining.

After an Alec Molter layup stopped the run for Carroll, Sonnleitner hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 51-50. Carroll led 54-52 when the Pioneers scored nine consecutive points to push the lead to 63-52.

Lawrence again battled back and cut the lead to 80-76 on a Jamie Nikitas layup with 1:17 left. Nikitas then stole the ball on the ensuing possession but his layup was blocked at the other end.

Keranen then hit four consecutive free throws in the final 29 seconds to seal the victory.

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APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team hit 15 3-pointers on Saturday on its way to an 88-73 Midwest Conference victory over Knox College at Alexander Gymnasium.

Lawrence (7-8, 5-5 MWC) went 15-for-30 from beyond the arc and shot 53.7 percent from the field for the game.

Chris Siebert scored a team-high 22 points for the Vikings and was 6-for-11 from 3-point range. Ryan DePouw added 21 points, hit a pair of 3-pointers, and collected a team-best five rebounds. Jamie Nikitas added 16 points and hit 4-of-8 shots from beyond the arc. He also had five assists and four rebounds.

David Jones hit 11-of-13 shots from the floor on his way to a game-high 28 points for Knox (1-14, 0-10). He also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

Lawrence built a 23-13 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game, and the Vikings hit six 3-pointers in their first eight baskets. DePouw also had a conventional three-point play in that stretch. Tom Antosz capped the opening stretch with a layup to give the Vikings the 10-point edge with 10:30 left in the opening half.

Knox battled back and trimmed the lead to 38-37 on Eric Miller’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds left in the half. Troy Miller then buried a 3-pointer for Lawrence to give the Vikings a 41-37 lead at the break.

The Vikings then opened the second half with a 20-6 scoring run to take command of the game. DePouw and Nikitas both had five points in that stretch, and Siebert capped the outburst with, what else, a 3-pointer to give Lawrence a 61-43 lead with 13:29 remaining.

Knox trimmed the lead to 11 points on a pair of occasions but got no closer. Lawrence stretched the lead to as many as 19 points as the Vikings beat Knox for the fifth consecutive time and 21st time in the last 24 games.

Lawrence returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to Carroll University.

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