By Jami Sponaugle 

Plymouth, Wis. - Although the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks men's basketball team held a 12-point lead at halftime, the Lakeland University Muskies would come back to hand the Hawks a 81-79 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference loss. 

First Half (Lakeland 32 - Illinois Tech 40)

• An Otis Reale 3-pointer opened the contest before the Muskies went on a 12-0 run. After a timeout, the Hawks were able to pick up one basket before the Muskies went on a 9-0 run between 15:11 and 13:58. A jump shot by Desmond Price broke the Hawks scoreless streak as the Muskies led 21-7 with 13:58 remaining in the half. With 12 minutes on the clock, the Hawks comeback began. Furkan Mohamed made a jump shot before the Muskies went down the court for a layup with 11:38 left. Here the Muskies led 24-12. Then, between 10:28 and 7:39, the Hawks went on a 11-0 run to make it a 1-point game in favor of the home team. The Muskies broke their scorless streak with a 3-point at 7:28 to take a 27-23 lead. With 5:30 left until halftime, Garrison Carter made a layup to tie the game 27-27. The Hawks closed out the quarter with a 13-5 advantage to lead 40-32 at halftime. 

Second Half (Lakeland 49 - Illinois Tech 39)

• Coming out of halftime, the Hawks looked to hold onto their lead while the Muskies looked to close in. With 17:24 on the clock, the Hawks held a 10-point, 47-37 lead after a Derrick Faulkner layup. As it looked like the Muskies were closing in, the Hawks turned things back in their favor. A layup and 3-pointer by Price followed by a layup from Faulkner put the Hawks back up by 10 with 12:17 remaining with a 56-46 lead. Slowly, the Muskies closed in on the Hawks lead unti; 7:01 when they tied the contest at 61-61. After briefly going back-and-forth, the Hawks found themselves back on top. Two free throws by Carter gave the Hawks a 77-72 lead with 32 seconds remaining. A 3-pointer and a free throw for the Muskies made it a 2-point game in favor of the Hawks with 13 seconds left. Caden Gigstad made the Hawks last basket with h12 seconds remaining from a free throw. Two free throws in favor of the Muskies made it a 79-78 game. Then, with 6 seconds until the final buzzer the Muskies made an and-1 to take the final 81-79 lead, handing the Hawks a loss. 

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Carter led the Hawks with 21 points and tied for the lead in rebounds with 6. 

• Coming off the bench, Price had 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist.

• Gigstad tied for the lead in rebounds and steals with 6 and 2 respectively. Gigstad finished with 10 points and 3 assists. 

Muskie Standouts

• Cam Jaeger led the Muskies with 27 points. Jaeger finished with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. 

• Aiden Polzin had 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. 

• Asanjai Hunter picked up a team high of 4 assists and tied for the lead with 3 steals. Hunter ended with 13 points, 6 rebounds. 

Inside the Box Score

• The Hawks finished 30-of-59 (50.8%) from the field, 7-of-19 (36.8%) from three, and 12-of-19 (63.2%) in free throws. The Muskies finished 24-of-64 (37.5%), 11-of-26 (42.3%), and 22-of-28 (78.6%) respectively.

• The Hawks barely outrebounded the Muskies 37-36.

• The Muskies were able to pick up 22 points off the Hawks 13 turnovers. 

• 37 of the Hawks points came off the bench. 

Up Next

The Hawks return to the Keating Sports Center next Saturday for a NACC contest against St. Norbert College. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00p.m.