Men’s Basketball

Category: Men’s Basketball

Second-half surge lifts Pioneers over Lawrence

GRINNELL, Iowa — The Grinnell College men’s basketball team went on a scoring run midway through the second half to pull away and went on to a 98-74 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Saturday at Darby Gymnasium.

Griffin Lentsch paced Grinnell (13-1, 9-1 MWC) with 19 points, and Luke Yaeger added 15.

Chris Siebert poured in a game-high 24 points for Lawrence (5-9, 4-6), and went 10-for-10 from the foul line for a second consecutive game. Siebert also had a game-high seven rebounds and game-high five steals.

Conor Klusendorf added 22 points for the Vikings.

Grinnell pulled out to a 17-point lead in the first half, but the Vikings trimmed that lead to 42-35 courtesy of a 10-0 run. Max Burgess hit a pair of 3-pointers for the Vikings during that stretch.

Grinnell pushed the lead back to 55-42 at the break, but Lawrence whittled the lead to 64-58 after a pair of Siebert free throws at the 14:40 mark.

After a Klusendorf dunk cut Grinnell’s advantage to 73-64, Grinnell went on a decisive 13-2 run to grab an 86-66 lead with 7:39 left. Lawrence never got closer than 18 points after that.

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Vikings shoot down Knox

GALESBURG, Ill. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team came out firing on Friday night and rolled to a 92-83 Midwest Conference victory over Knox College.

Chris Siebert paced Lawrence (5-8, 4-5 MWC) and all scorers with 23 points. Davis DeWolfe added 21 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Vikings. Tyler Crisman had 19 points and handed out a game-high nine assists, and Tyler Mazur chipped in with 11 points.

Tanner Carlson led Knox (3-12, 2-8) with 22 points.

Lawrence hit eight of its first 11 shots from the floor to quickly build 22-7 lead just eight minutes into the contest. The Vikings built that lead to as many as 21 points in the first half. The Vikings capped the first half on Mazur’s 3-pointer to take a 42-22 lead at the half.

Knox cut the lead back to 15 points at 54-39 early in the second half, but Lawrence countered with a 13-4 run. Crisman hit two 3-pointers in that outburst and DeWolfe added five points to give Lawrence a 67-43 lead with 11:21 remaining.

Knox pecked away at the lead and cut it to 84-75 with 1:03 left, but the Vikings hit eight of their next 10 free throws to seal the victory.

Lawrence now travels to Grinnell College for a game on Saturday afternoon.

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DeWolfe powers Vikings over Monmouth

Davis DeWolfe posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Lawrence University men’s basketball team to a 67-63 Midwest Conference victory over Monmouth College on Saturday at Alexander Gymnasium.

DeWolfe, a sophomore center, stepped out and hit 3 of 4 from 3-point range and finished 6 of 12 from the floor.

Tyler Crisman added 16 points and four assists for Lawrence (4-8, 3-5 MWC), and Conor Klusendorf had an outstanding all-around game with 14 points, five rebounds, three blocks and three steals.

Kenny Foster had a double-double for the Scots (4-9, 2-6) with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

Lawrence led by as many as nine points in the first half but neither team was able to pull away. The lead changed five times, and the score was tied five times.

The Vikings finally got some breathing room when they scored eight consecutive points, with Crisman and Max Burgess both hitting 3-pointers and Crisman adding a layup, for a 53-44 lead with 6:42 left.

Monmouth bounced back and cut the lead to two, the last time on a pair of free throws from Foster, with 2:48 remaining. Crisman countered with a driving layup to put the Vikings up 60-56.

The teams then traded misses before Chris Siebert was fouled with 50 seconds left. He hit a pair of free throws to put the Vikings up 62-56. Foster’s layup with 40 seconds left trimmed the lead back to 62-58, but the Vikings sealed the win from the foul line from that point.

After DeWolfe converted 1 of 2 from the foul line, Siebert hit four consecutive free throws in the final 19 seconds to secure the victory. Siebert, who had a game-high seven assists, went 6-for-6 from the line in the final 50 seconds.

Lawrence returns to action on Jan. 20 when it travels to Knox College.

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Grinnell gets past Lawrence

The Grinnell College men’s basketball team pulled away late in the first half and withstood a second-half rally by Lawrence University to post a 103-94 Midwest Conference victory Friday night at Alexander Gymnasium.

Matt Chalupa paced Grinnell (11-0, 7-0 MWC) with 19 points. Griffin Lentsch and Jesse Ney added 15 points apiece for the Pioneers. Lentsch, the nation’s leading scorer, was limited to half of his 30-point average.

Tyler Crisman and Chris Siebert scored 23 points apiece for Lawrence (3-8, 2-5). Siebert also handed out 13 assists, just two shy of tying Lawrence’s school record of 15, which is held by current head coach Joel DePagter.

Conor Klusendorf added 20 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Vikings. Klusendorf, who leads the MWC in blocked shots, picked up three blocks on the evening. Andrew Kline chipped in with a career-high 10 points for the Vikings.

Grinnell pulled away in the final six minutes of the first half. Three consecutive points by Davis DeWolfe trimmed Grinnell’s lead to 33-32, but the Pioneers went on a 30-13 run over the the final 6:37 of the half. Grinnell led 63-45 at the half.

Lawrence came out strong in the second half and outscored the Pioneers 12-4 to start the half. Siebert and Kline scored four points apiece in the run that cut Grinnell’s lead to 67-57 with 16:00 left.

Grinnell then got 3-pointers from Evan Johnson, Patrick Maher, Xander Strek and Chalupa to build the lead back to 79-61. Lawrence didn’t cut the lead back to 10 points until the final minute and didn’t get closer than nine points.

The Vikings return to action on Saturday when they host Monmouth College.

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Pioneers shoot past Lawrence

The Carroll University men’s basketball team used a combination of solid inside play and good outside shooting to beat Lawrence University 91-63 in a Midwest Conference game on Tuesday at Alexander Gymnasium.

Forward Alec Molter posted a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds to pace Carroll (7-4, 3-3 MWC). Guards Kyle Jones and Kevin Hurd scored 21 and 18 points, respectively, and the pair combined to go 8-for-12 on 3-pointers.

Tyler Mazur and Tyler Crisman scored nine points apiece to lead Lawrence (3-7, 2-4).

Carroll came out on fire and hit 11 of its first 13 shots from the floor to build a commanding 28-10 lead with 11:30 left in the first half. Lawrence battled back with a smaller lineup and some hot shooting of its own.

The Vikings went on a 23-8 run to cut the lead to 36-33 with 3:48 left in the first half. Lawrence hit 7 of 11 shots from the floor during that stretch, and Mazur scored all nine of his points in that run.

Carroll recovered and got a big 3-pointer from Hurd with 18 seconds left in the first half to give the Pioneers a 44-35 lead at the break.

The Pioneers started the second half a lot like the first and hit eight of their first 14 shots to build a 65-44 lead with 13:16 remaining. Carroll would go on to lead by as many as 31 points.

Lawrence returns to action on Friday when it hosts Grinnell College.

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Bucs pull away early in win over Lawrence

BELOIT, Wis. — The Beloit College men’s basketball team pulled away midway through the first half, and Lawrence University never seriously threatened in the Bucs’ 86-64 Midwest Conference victory on Saturday at Flood Arena.

Tyler Butke and David Bremner scored 21 points apiece to lead Beloit (3-7, 2-4 MWC).

Chris Siebert scored a game-high 22 points to pace Lawrence (3-6, 2-3). Tyler Crisman and Davis DeWolfe added 13 points apiece and Max Burgess had 11 for the Vikings.

Beloit led 13-12 when the Bucs went on a 12-0 run to grab a 25-12 lead with 8:54 left in the opening half. Michael Horton, who finished with 18 points, capped the first half by hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Beloit a 49-30 lead at the break.

Led by Siebert, Lawrence came out strong to start the second half. Siebert scored 10 points in a 12-3 scoring outburst to begin the half, and that trimmed Beloit’s lead to 52-42 with 17:41 remaining.

Beloit built the lead back to as many as 14 points, but Lawrence did manage to trim it back to 63-53 with 9:09 left. That was as close as Lawrence could get as Beloit responded with a 7-0 run to seal the victory.

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

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