APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team faces a pair of Midwest Conference road tests this week. The Vikings make their final trip to Van Male Field House in Waukesha, Wis., on Tuesday before heading to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to take on Cornell College on Saturday.
Category: Men’s Basketball
Lawrence rally comes up short against Scots
APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team rallied from seven points down in the final minutes Saturday, but Monmouth College recovered to post a 68-63 Midwest Conference victory at Alexander Gymnasium.
Will Jones scored 21 points and picked up four rebounds and four steals for Monmouth (8-4, 5-3 MWC). Reed Goodbred added 14 points and six rebounds for the Scots.
Jamie Nikitas, one of the nation’s leading scorers, was limited to 17 points and added a game-high eight rebounds to go with four assists to pace Lawrence (5-7, 2-5). Jeremy Stephani added 13 points for the Vikings, and Ben Peterson had 10 points, all in the first half.
Monmouth matched its biggest lead of the half when it went up 63-56 with 2:30 remaining. The Scots then let Lawrence back in the game with turnovers by Jones on two of their next three possessions. Lawrence converted that into four consecutive free throws, sandwiched around a foul shot by Paul Engo, to trim the margin to 64-60 with 1:06 remaining.
After a turnover by Engo on the next possession, Connor Weas buried a 3-pointer from the right wing to cut the lead to 64-63 with 50 seconds left. It was the only shot from outside the arc that Lawrence made in the second half as the Vikings went 1-for-10 from long distance after the break. Lawrence was 6-for-14 on 3-pointers in the first half.
Jones answered for Monmouth with a driving layup with 22 ticks left to push the lead back to 66-63. Nikitas then missed a layup and the offensive rebound popped out of his hands. Jones was there to grab it, and he then made two free throws with eight seconds left to seal the victory.
In a see-saw first half, Monmouth built a 16-9 lead before the Vikings got hot from long range. Peterson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Stephani drained another trey to give Lawrence a 20-18 edge. The Vikings kept pouring it on with layups from Nikitas and Stephani and another 3-pointer from Stephani to grab a 27-19 lead. Overall, Lawrence put together a 18-3 run during a stretch of 4:44.
Monmouth answered right back with a 20-3 run of its own, capped by Matt Juhola’s layup with 3:31 left, to grab a 39-30 lead. Lawrence finished the half with a pair of Nikitas layups, sandwiched around a Weas 3-pointer, to cut the lead to 39-37 at the half.
Second-half burst pushes St. Norbert past Vikings
DE PERE, Wis. — The St. Norbert College men’s basketball team used a 9-0 run in the second half Wednesday to pull away and went on to an 82-62 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Schuldes Sports Center.
Jamie Nikitas and Mitch Willer both recorded double-doubles for the Vikings (5-6, 2-4 MWC). Nikitas, one of the nation’s scoring leaders, poured in a game-high 26 points to go with 10 rebounds and four assists. Willer added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
D.J. DeValk paced St. Norbert (10-2, 7-0) with 17 points, and Ben Bobinski added 14 points and eight rebounds.
St. Norbert led by as many as 14 points in the first half, and Willer’s layup at the buzzer cut the margin to 41-29 at the half.
The Vikings continued to eat into that lead to start the second half. Nikitas started the half with a three-point play and then drained back-to-back 3-pointers as part of a 9-2 run to trim the margin to 43-38. The teams traded baskets with Willer’s layup cutting the lead to 45-40 with 16:37 left.
The Green Knights then scored the game’s next nine points with DeValk sandwiching a pair of 3-pointers around one from Bobinski to give St. Norbert a 54-40 edge.
The Vikings got the lead down to 11 points twice after that, the last time on a 3-pointer from Troy Miller with 10:36 left, but could get no closer.
St. Norbert would lead by as many as 23 points before settling for the final margin of 20.
The Vikings played without starter Pete Winslow, who was injured this past Saturday against Grinnell College.
Men’s basketball preview: Lawrence at St. Norbert, vs. Monmouth
APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team takes on a pair of Midwest Conference opponents this week. The Vikings travel to defending Midwest Conference champion St. Norbert College for a 5:30 p.m. game on Wednesday and then return home to take on Monmouth College at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Second-half surge lifts Grinnell past Vikings
APPLETON, Wis. — A scoring outburst midway through the second half Saturday put the Grinnell College men’s basketball team ahead, and the Pioneers pulled away for a 109-89 Midwest Conference win over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.
Kyle Parker paced Grinnell (5-6, 2-4 MWC) with 23 points, and Julian Marx added 21.
Jamie Nikitas poured in 34 points, his fourth 30-plus point game of the season, to lead Lawrence (5-5, 2-3). Nikitas went 12-of-17 from the floor and added six rebounds and a pair of steals.
Jeremy Stephani added 20 points for the Vikings, and Mitch Willer had 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the floor. Willer and Stephani added five assists apiece.
Lawrence’s Pete Winslow added nine points and seven rebounds in the first half, but he didn’t play in the second half due to injury.
Lawrence led by as many as nine points in the first half, and the Vikings held a 49-46 advantage at the half. The Vikings shot 61.3 percent (19-31) from the floor in the first half and held Grinnell’s attack from beyond the arc to just 29 percent (9-31).
The Vikings broke the sixth tie of the game with layups from Willer and Nikitas to take a 73-69 advantage with 12:38 left in the game. Grinnell then scored the game’s next 11 points, as Marx, Parker and Jacob Ekstrand all hit 3-pointers, to take an 80-73 lead with 10:16 left.
Nikitas stopped the run with a layup, but that’s as close as Lawrence would get. Matt Jasaitis countered with a 3-pointer for Grinnell for an 83-75 edge. The Pioneers would push the lead to as many as 13 points in the next few minutes.
Grinnell went 13-for-27 (48.1 percent) from beyond the arc in the second half. Lawrence shot just 44.1 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
Lawrence did trim the lead 98-89 on Stephani’s layup with 2:37 left, but Parker hit another 3-pointer for Grinnell. The Pioneers then went 8-for-8 from the foul line in the final 1:43 to seal the victory.
Men’s basketball preview: Lawrence vs. Grinnell
APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team returns to Midwest Conference play on Saturday when the Vikings face high-scoring Grinnell College. The Pioneers are averaging 107 points per game, but they face a Lawrence team that has won two in a row and four of its last five. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at Alexander Gymnasium.
Nikitas posts double-double as Lawrence downs Raptors
BAYAMON, Puerto Rico — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team got on top early Sunday and went on to a 68-55 non-conference win over Bard College at the Puerto Rico Classic.
Senior guard Jamie Nikitas posted a double-double with game highs of 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead Lawrence (5-4) to the victory at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez.
Jeremy Stephani added 15 points, Mitch Willer had 10 and Ben Peterson chipped in with eight for the Vikings.
DeVahnte Mosley paced Bard (3-6), a NCAA Division III school in New York, with 19 points.
Bard made the first basket of the game, but Lawrence hit a 3-pointer to grab a 3-2 lead and never trailed again. That was part of a 9-0 run as the Vikings built an early 9-2 edge.
Lawrence followed with a 19-11 outburst to push the lead to 28-13 late in the first half. Bard battled back to cut the margin to 35-24 at the break.
The Vikings held a double-digit advantage until the Raptors went on a scoring run to trim the lead to 41-33 at the 13-minute mark. Lawrence responded with an 11-2 run to take a 52-35 advantage. Nikitas scored six points during the outburst, which was capped by a Stephani 3-pointer. Bard never closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
Lawrence finished the Puerto Rico Classic with a 2-0 record, and the Vikings now take a break for the holidays. Lawrence returns to action and Midwest Conference play when it hosts Grinnell College on Jan. 2.
Vikings win defensive struggle with Randolph
BAYAMON, Puerto Rico — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team limited Randoph College to just 24 percent shooting Saturday in a 43-40 non-conference victory at the Puerto Rico Classic.
Jamie Nikitas led Lawrence (4-4) and all scorers with 17 points and picked up eight rebounds. Jeremy Stephani added 13 points for the Vikings, and Ben Peterson grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.
Josh Freund led Randolph, a school in Lynchburg, Va., with a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Randolph (7-2) shot just 15-of-62 (24.2 percent) from the floor for the game, and the Wild Cats hit 2-of-14 (14.2 percent) from 3-point range. Lawrence shot only 32.7 percent from the floor, including 24.1 percent from beyond the arc.
The game was tight throughout, although Lawrence built the biggest lead by either team at 16-8 on Pete Winslow’s layup midway through the first half. Lawrence was held to just two points for the rest of the first half, and the Wild Cats trimmed the margin to 18-17 at the break.
In a game that featured 10 lead changes and four ties, Randolph took its biggest lead of the game at 25-23 on a pair of Zach Desgain free throws. The teams then traded the lead before the Vikings grabbed the advantage for good at 35-33 on Nikitas’ three-point play.
The Vikings built the advantage to five points after Stephani followed with a 3-pointer. Lawrence was unable to pull away, but the Vikings were up 43-38 after a Troy Miller free throw.
Freund’s jumper cut the margin to 43-40, but the Wild Cats missed their final four shots from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers in the final seconds that would have tied it.
Lawrence wraps up its trip to Puerto Rico when it takes on Bard College on Sunday.
Ninth-ranked Pointers rally to top Lawrence
STEVENS POINT, Wis. — The No. 9 UW-Stevens Point men’s basketball team rallied from a double-digit deficit to down Lawrence University 64-53 on Saturday in a non-conference game at Quandt Fieldhouse.
Sean McGann scored 20 points and Ethan Bublitz added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Pointers (4-3).
Jamie Nikitas paced Lawrence (3-4) with 18 points, and Jeremy Stephani added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Vikings. Mitch Willer also pulled down nine boards for Lawrence.
Lawrence led 32-25 at the half, but the Vikings went cold from the floor after the break. Lawrence shot just 29.6 percent (8-27) from the floor in the second half.
The Pointers chipped away at the advantage and finally took the lead at 43-41 on a pair of McGann free throws with 11:28 remaining. Stevens Point then stretched the lead thanks to an 11-2 run to grab a 57-45 edge with 3:27 left.
Lawrence would get no closer than 10 points after that.
The Vikings built a double-digit advantage by dominating the final 12 minutes of the first half.
The game was tied at 9-9, but Lawrence hit eight of its next 14 shots from the floor to pull away. The Vikings outscored Stevens Point 21-10 to take a 30-19 lead with 2:50 remaining in the first half. Nikitas scored nine points and Stephani added eight during that stretch.
Stevens Point then got a three-point play and a 3-pointer from Bublitz to trim the margin to seven points at the half.
Men’s basketball preview: Lawrence at No. 9 UWSP, at Puerto Rico Classic
APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team has three non-conference games scheduled in the next week before it takes a break for the holidays. Lawrence heads to No. 9 UW-Stevens Point for a 3 p.m. game Saturday at Quandt Fieldhouse. The Vikings then travel to the Puerto Rico Classic and face Randolph College and Bard College on Dec. 19-20.