Men’s Basketball

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team took over the game midway through the first half and rolled to an 82-59 nonconference win over the College of Mount St. Vincent on Wednesday at the Cruzin Classic.

Tyler Mazur came off the bench to lead Lawrence (5-3) with 17 points. Mazur went 6-for-9 from the floor, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range. Ryan DePouw added 15 points, and Jamie Nikitas had 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Vikings. Lawrence’s Chris Siebert chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Brandon Serrano led Mount St. Vincent (1-7) with 17 points and nine rebounds.

The Dolphins scored the first six points of the game and led 10-6, but Lawrence dominated the rest of the half. The Vikings went on a 36-8 tear over the final 12 minutes of the first half to lead 42-18 at the half.

DePouw scored 11 points in the first half, and Mazur added seven to pace the Vikings. Lawrence also put the clamps on Mount St. Vincent defensively and held the Dolphins to just 27.6 percent shooting (8-for-29) from the floor in the first half. The Dolphins shot 39.3 percent for the game, including 11.8 percent (2-for-17) from beyond the arc.

Mount St. Vincent did manage to whittle the lead down to 16 points at 52-36 at the 12:23 mark of the second half, but Lawrence removed any doubt of the next seven minutes. The Vikings went on a 20-10 run as Mazur scored seven points and DePouw added four to give Lawrence a 72-46 lead with 5:09 remaining.  

Lawrence is back in action in Florida on Friday when the Vikings face No. 12 UW-Whitewater.

Box score

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team shot 64.7 percent from the floor and rolled to an 88-64 Midwest Conference win over Illinois College on Monday at Alexander Gymnasium.

Lawrence (4-3, 3-1 MWC) made 33-of-51 shots from the floor and went 14-for-27 (51.9 percent) from 3-point range.

Chris Siebert led Lawrence and all scorers with 22 points. Siebert went 7-for-11 from the floor, including 6-for-8 from beyond the arc. Tyler Mazur added 16 points for the Vikings, Jamie Nikitas had 13 and Ryan DePouw chipped in with 12 points. Brian Gryszkiewicz handed out six assists and picked up five steals for the Vikings, and Chase Nelson had a team-high five rebounds.

Spencer Campbell came off the bench to lead Illinois College (3-3, 1-3) with 19 points, and Nathan Kohler added 17.

Lawrence jumped on the Blueboys early and the Vikings never took their foot off the gas. The Vikings hit their first five shots from the floor and led by double digits at 18-8 on Nikitas’ layup with 13:03 left in the first half.

The Vikings went on a 25-5 midway through the first half and led by 25 at 38-13 with seven minutes remaining in the opening half. The Vikings would lead by as many as 31 points in the first half and were up 53-24 at the break.

Illinois College never made a run at the Vikings in the second half and got no closer than 25 points after the break. Lawrence shot a sizzling 72.2 percent (13-18) from the floor in the second half and led by as many as 32 points.

The Vikings return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to face the College of Mount St. Vincent.

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GALESBURG, Ill. — Chris Siebert poured in 25 points as the Lawrence University men’s basketball team rolled to a 92-47 Midwest Conference win at Knox College on Saturday.

Siebert hit 10-of-15 shots from the floor, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range to lead Lawrence (3-3, 2-1 MWC) to the victory. Max Burgess came off the bench to score 11 points in just 10 minutes for the Vikings.

Jamie Nikitas and Trace Sonnleitner added nine points apiece for the Vikings, who had 13 players score in the game. Nikitas also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go with six assists and three steals.

David Jones led Knox (1-7, 0-4) with 10 points.

Lawrence, which shot 64.8 percent from the floor, including 52.4 percent from beyond the arc, jumped to a big early lead and never looked back.

The Vikings scored the first eight points of the game and were up by double digits just over seven minutes into the contest. Sonnleitner’s 3-pointer with 28 seconds left in the first half gave Lawrence a 45-27 lead at the break.

The Vikings pushed the lead early in the second half to 25 points and steadily pulled away from there. Lawrence’s largest lead of the game was the 45-point final margin.

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MOUNT VERNON, Iowa — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team trailed by double digits in the second half but rallied to within two points before dropping a 75-69 Midwest Conference decision at Cornell College on Wednesday.

Joey Guth led Cornell (4-2, 2-1 MWC) with 18 points and was one of four Rams in double figures.

Ryan DePouw and Jamie Nikitas scored 17 points apiece to lead Lawrence (2-3, 1-1). Chris Siebert had an off-night shooting but finished with 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Vikings. Chase Nelson added 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals for Lawrence.

The Rams led by as many as 13 points in the first half and were still up by 10 with 15 minutes left in the contest. The Vikings began slicing into the lead and got as close as two points before falling behind 69-60 with 2:48 left.

Lawrence went on a 7-1 run, getting a layup from DePouw, a 3-pointer from Tyler Mazur and a layup from Nikitas to cut the lead to 70-67 with 44 seconds left.

After Reggie Greenwood made one free throw, Nikitas countered with a layup to cut the lead to 71-69 with 29 seconds left. Tabari Carter then made four consecutive free throws, sandwiched around a Lawrence turnover, to seal the victory.

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APPLETON, Wis. — Jamie Nikitas and Tyler Mazur led four Lawrence University men’s basketball players in double figures as the Vikings downed Carroll University 76-67 in a Midwest Conference game Wednesday night at Alexander Gymnasium.

Nikitas scored a game-high 22 points and Mazur added 21 as Lawrence (2-2, 1-0 MWC) rallied past the Pioneers (3-2, 1-1) in the second half. Ryan DePouw added 18 points and Chris Siebert chipped in with 12 for Lawrence.

DePouw went 4-for-4 from 3-point range, and Mazur hit 4 of 9 from beyond the arc. Nikitas added six rebounds, five steals and four assists for the Vikings.

Bryan Nagy paced Carroll with 17 points and was one of four Pioneers in double figures.

Carroll led 33-28 at the half, but the Vikings pulled away midway through the second half. The score was tied at 41-41 when Lawrence went on a 9-0 run. Mazur scored five points in the run, including a 3-pointer to finish it, and Nikitas added four.

The Pioneers whittled the lead back down to 54-51 with 5:31 remaining, but DePouw buried a 3-pointer from the corner to answer for the Vikings. Lawrence still led by six at the 2:23 mark when Mazur converted a three-point play off a fastbreak to give the Vikings a 68-59 lead.

After a Carroll layup, Mazur buried another 3-pointer late in the shot clock to push Lawrence’s lead to 71-61 with 1:56 remaining. Carroll never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Lawrence, which improved to 7-0 in conference openers under head coach Joel DePagter, returns to action on Dec. 11 when it travels to Cornell College.

Box score

APPLETON, Wis. — Bryant Ackerman came off the bench to score 29 points and lead the Elmhurst College men’s basketball team to a 96-81 nonconference victory over Lawrence University on Saturday at Alexander Gymnasium.

Kyle Wuest added 25 points, and Nick Sanford had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bluejays (2-2).

Chris Siebert scored 26 points to lead Lawrence (1-2) and became the 21st player in school history to top the 1,000-point plateau. Siebert now has 1,019 points in his career and moved past Rob Cohen (1,005) into 20th place on the career scoring list.

Lawrence made several runs at the Bluejays in the second half, but Elmhurst was deadly from long-range after the break. The Bluejays went 6-for-8 from beyond the arc in the second half and hit 52.4 percent (11-21) for the game.

Ackerman went 10-for-15 from the floor, including 7-for-10 from 3-point range.

The Vikings trailed by 10 at the half and were still down by that margin after a 3-pointer from Ackerman with 14:19 left. Lawrence then reeled off eight consecutive points, six coming on back-to-back 3-pointers from Siebert, to cut the margin to 58-56 with 12:47 left.

The Bluejays answered with a conventional three-point play from Wuest, five consecutive points from Ackerman and a layup from Will Nixon to push the lead back to 68-58.

After a Wuest free throw moved the lead to 72-59 with 9:19 left, Lawrence made another run. Troy Miller drilled a 3-pointer and Trace Sonnleitner followed with another 3-pointer to cut the margin to 72-65 with 8:13 left.

Sanford then hit a jumper and Ackerman made another 3-pointer to answer for the Bluejays. Sonnleitner, who finished with 12 points and five rebounds, buried another 3-pointer for Lawrence, but Elmhurst scored the next five points to push the margin back to 82-68.

Lawrence didn’t get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

The Vikings do not return to action until Dec. 4 when they open Midwest Conference play by hosting Carroll University.

Box score

STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Trevor Hass scored 33 points to lead the No. 4 UW-Stevens Point men’s basketball team to a 99-73 nonconference win over Lawrence University on Saturday at Quandt Fieldhouse.

Hass went 13-for-17 from the floor and hit all seven of his 3-point attempts, but he did miss all four of his shots from the foul line. Tyler Tillema added 23 points as he went 9-for-11 from the field. The Pointers shot 36-for-60 from the floor for a red-hot 60 percent.

Lawrence (1-1) got a balanced attack with five players scoring in double figures. Chris Siebert and Ryan DePouw scored 15 points apiece to pace the Vikings. Jamie Nikitas added 11 points, and Tyler Mazur and Davis DeWolfe chipped in with 10 points apiece.

Stevens Point (1-0)  jumped out to a double-digit lead early in the game and held that type of advantage until the second half. The Vikings trailed 64-48 before going on a 13-3 scoring run.

Siebert scored five points in that stretch and Mazur drilled a 3-pointer during the run. Tom Antosz finished the outburst and cut the Pointers’ lead to 67-61 with 11:29 left in the contest.

The Pointers bounced right back and scored the game’s next six points over the next 1:25 to grab a 73-61 edge. Lawrence never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

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