Men’s Basketball

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Tyler Crisman scored 23 points to lead the Lawrence University men’s basketball team to a 49-45 Midwest Conference victory over Lake Forest College on Friday night.

The Vikings (10-9, 9-5 MWC) saw a big first-half lead evaporate, but Lake Forest missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final minute.

Travis Clark posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for Lake Forest (8-10, 6-7). Lawrence’s Jon Mays matched Clark with a game-high 10 rebounds.

Lawrence jumped out to a big early lead thanks to an 11-0 run, which was capped by Erik Borresen’s 3-pointer. That gave the Vikings a 14-2 edge with 13:50 left in the first half.

Lawrence would build that lead to as many as 19 points in the first half and led 29-12 at the half. Lawrence shot a respectable 12-for-27 (44.4 percent) in the first half against Lake Forest’s tough defense.

The Vikings went stone cold after the break and shot 6-for-22 (27.3 percent) from the floor in the final 20 minutes, and that allowed the Foresters to rally.

Lake Forest went on a 15-1 run to open the second half and trimmed Lawrence’s lead to 30-27 with 15:25 left. Lawrence regrouped after Mays hit a jumper and Crisman buried a 3-pointer to push the lead back to eight points.

Lake Forest managed to cut the lead to two points on two occasions, but the Vikings hung on. Crisman made a pair of free throws with 2:55 left to put the Vikings up 48-44.

A free throw from Clark cut the lead to 48-45 with 1:24 left, and an offensive foul on Crisman gave Lake Forest the ball back with 56 seconds left.

Lake Forest then missed a 3-pointer and another jumper before Borresen grabbed the rebound. Chris Siebert was fouled with 17 seconds left and made one free throw to seal the victory.

Lawrence returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Illinois College.

Box score

Labeling Tyler Crisman and Chris Siebert is tougher than a 99-cent steak.

When you watch the Lawrence University men’s basketball team, you think Crisman is the point guard, right? He’s the smaller guy bringing the ball up the court and calling out plays so he must be the point guard.

And Siebert is the taller guy out on the wing so he must be the shooting guard, right?

Well, you would be right on both counts and wrong on both counts because these guys defy easy categorization.

“With the way we play, and if you play true motion basketball, every position is interchangeable,” Lawrence coach Joel DePagter said.

“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and that’s how you build a good motion team, you figure out everyone’s strengths.”

It turns out both Crisman and Siebert are multi-talented players who slip in and out of both roles in the backcourt.

“Really, their stats should be the opposite,” DePagter said with a chuckle.

While Crisman would appear to be the point guard, he’s more of a shooter. Among the national leaders in 3-point shooting, the junior from Frankfort, Ill., scored a career-high 29 points at Ripon College on Tuesday to push his scoring average to 14.7 per game.

“Crisman has a toughness and a grit about him, and he’s extremely confident,” DePagter said. “He doesn’t think he’s going to miss a shot.”

Crisman is shooting 44.7 percent from the floor, including 45.5 percent from beyond the arc. Crisman also is averaging 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds per contest.

Siebert, a freshman from Baraboo, has the look of a shooting guard or someone who can slash to the basket, but he isn’t the type of guy who shoots first and looks for the pass later.

“Chris is one of those guys who makes the best playmakers,” DePagter said. “Chris makes plays, and that doesn’t always mean for yourself. He can do things that you can’t coach, and that makes my job a lot easier.”

Siebert, who was ill and limited to only 17 minutes against Ripon, is averaging a team-high 4.9 assists per game. He’s on pace to have one of the top-five assist seasons in Lawrence history.

Siebert also is averaging 11.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor.

“Chris is a guy who should go into every game with a triple-double on his mind,” DePagter said. “He can score 10 points and get close to 10 assists and 10 rebounds in every game.”

Siebert, who is the only freshman other than All-American Chris Braier to start for the Vikings in the last decade, came to Lawrence from Loras College where he took a medical redshirt in 2009-10.

“Chris has the ability to be great. The challenge for Chris is to improve,” DePagter said. “The challenge for Chris is not to have a good freshman year but to have great sophomore, junior and senior years.”

With standouts Jon Mays and Erik Borresen both in their senior seasons, it will be up to Siebert and Crisman to run the show for the Vikings next season.

“Both Chris and Tyler have something, what ever that thing is, they both have that natural leadership ability,” DePagter said.

“Their job is to do whatever it takes next year to get this team back to where we were a couple of years ago.”

Mays shoots down MWC honor

Senior guard Jon Mays was named the Midwest Conference Player of the Week after a career game against Carroll University.

Mays scored a career-high 38 points in Lawrence’s 85-65 win over Carroll this past Saturday. For the two games last week, Mays averaged 26 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 69.2 percent (18-26) from the floor, including 58.3 percent (7-12) from beyond the arc.

In the win over Carroll, Mays hit 12 of 16 shots from the floor, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range. He also grabbed eight rebounds and picked up one steal and one assist.

The 38 points matches the most scored by a Lawrence player against an opponent other than Grinnell College since Pete Hachmeister had 45 against Silver Lake College in 1975.

Weekend hockey showdown

It’s a big weekend series for the Lawrence hockey team with the Vikings hosting Northland College.

With six regular-season games left, the Vikings lead the Lumberjacks by two points in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association standings entering this weekend’s play.

The good news for the Vikings is they have won 27 of the last 29 games against Northland. The Lumberjacks have reason to be optimistic as well because the teams split the series at Northland earlier in the season.

Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a weekly notes package written by Lawrence University Sports Information Director Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.

RIPON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit to take the lead only to see Ripon College come back and snatch an 84-80 Midwest Conference victory at the Storzer Center on Wednesday.

Tyler Crisman poured in a career-high 29 points for the Vikings (9-9, 8-5 MWC). Jon Mays added 23 points, and Erik Borresen had a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

Scott Gillespie had a double-double for Ripon (11-7, 9-4) with 16 points and 14 assists.

Lawrence was down 18 at 59-41 on Alex Tomsheck’s jumper with 15:28 left in the game. The Vikings then scored the next eight points on a jumper by Mays and back-to-back 3-pointers by Crisman to cut the lead to 59-49 with 13:47 left.

Crisman hit 11 of 16 shots from the floor, including 7 of 11 from 3-point range.

After Nic Schaalma countered with a basket for Ripon, Lawrence scored nine consecutive points, capped by Crisman’s layup, to cut the margin to 61-58 with 11:00 left.

Ripon stretched the lead back to 65-58, but the Vikings chipped away and tied the game at 75-75 on a Borresen free throw with 2:39 left.

After Gillespie missed a jumper, Borresen hit a short jumper to give Lawrence a 77-75 lead with 1:38 left.

Taylor Koth was fouled and hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 77-77 with 1:19 remaining. Mays went to the basket for Lawrence, but his layup was off the mark after contact with a Ripon player.

Ripon grabbed the rebound and Koth scored and was fouled on the other end to put Ripon up 80-77 after he converted the three-point play.

Crisman then missed an off-balance 3-pointer with 11 seconds left that would have tied it. Aris Wurtz grabbed the rebound for Ripon and converted both free throws to seal the win.

Box score

Lawrence University men’s basketball star Jon Mays has been named the Midwest Conference Player of the Week.

Mays (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) earned the honor after scoring a career-high 38 points in Lawrence’s 85-65 victory over Carroll University this past Saturday.

For the two games last week, the senior guard averaged 26 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 69.2 percent (18-26) from the floor, including 58.3 percent (7-12) from 3-point range.

In the win over Carroll, Mays hit 12 of 16 shots from the floor, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range. He also grabbed eight rebounds and had one steal and one assist. The 38 points topped Mays’ previous career best of 27 points, which he set against Monmouth on Jan. 15.

It also is the most points scored by a Lawrence player against an opponent other than Grinnell College since Pete Hachmeister had 45 against Silver Lake College in 1975.

Mays also scored a team-high 14 points in Lawrence’s 73-52 loss to St. Norbert earlier in the week.

Lawrence (9-8, 8-4 MWC) returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to Ripon College.

Jon Mays poured in a career-high 38 points, and the Lawrence University men’s basketball team rolled to an 85-65 Midwest Conference victory over Carroll University at Alexander Gymnasium on Saturday.

Mays went 12-for-16 from the floor, including 5-for-6 from 3-point range, to pace the Vikings (9-8, 8-4 MWC). Mays also had eight rebounds and no turnovers in 37 minutes. Mays topped his career high of 27 points, which he set at Monmouth College on Jan. 15.

Tyler Crisman added 13 points for the Vikings, and Chris Siebert had 10 points and a game-high eight assists. Erik Borresen pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds to go with nine points.

Kevin Hurd paced Carroll (9-7, 7-4) with 11 points and Andrew Rumler added 10.

Lawrence led by as many as 12 points late in the first half, but Jake Bast’s jumper completed a quick 6-0 run to cut that lead to 35-29 with a minute left before the break. The Vikings finished the half with a thunderous dunk by Conor Klusendorf to take a 40-31 lead at the half.

The Pioneers kept within striking distance, and Lawrence led 63-53 with eight minutes left. Siebert then completed a three-point play and Mays capped a 7-1 outburst with a 3-pointer to put the Vikings up 70-54 with 6:45 left.

Dan Kratz answered with a 3-pointer for Carroll, but Lawrence stretched the lead to 19 points when Mays hit a 3-pointer with 3:43 left to put the game out of reach.

The Vikings would lead by as many as 24 points down the stretch.

Lawrence returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to Ripon College.

Box score

The Grinnell College men’s basketball team rallied from a 25-point halftime deficit Saturday and went on to a 112-103 overtime victory over Lawrence University in a Midwest Conference game at Alexander Gymnasium.

Griffin Lentsch scored 26 points to pace Grinnell (9-6, 4-6 MWC) and was one of six Pioneers scoring in double figures. Conor Klusendorf poured in a career-high 35 points to lead Lawrence (8-7, 7-3), and Erik Borresen had a double-double with 25 points and a career-high 18 rebounds.

Lawrence shot 71 percent (22-31) in the first half and rolled to a 60-35 lead at the break.

The Vikings still by 18 at 85-67 with 10:47 left in the second half, but Grinnell went on a 25-7 run over the next seven minutes to tie the score at 92-92 with 3:43 left.

The teams then traded the lead, and Grinnell went up 97-96 on Kale Knisley’s layup with 1:20 left. The score stayed that way until Klusendorf was fouled with 11 seconds left. He made one of two free throws to tie the game and force overtime.

The Pioneers hit their first three shots from the field in the extra period to take a 104-98 lead with 3:43 left. Lawrence got a free throw from Crisman and a dunk from Klusendorf to trim the lead to 104-101 with 3:11 remaining.

Grinnell countered with a three-point play from Dominique Bellamy, and Tyler Crisman answered with a layup for the Vikings to cut the lead to 107-103.

Matt Skelly then hit a jumper for Grinnell, and Crisman missed a 3-pointer for Lawrence. The Vikings were forced to foul, and Grinnell made three free throws in the final 28 seconds to seal the win.

Lawrence returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts St. Norbert College.

Box score