The Lakeland men’s basketball team split a pair of games at the North Central College Holiday Inn Select Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 20 and 21 in Naperville, Ill. The Muskies lost a Friday game 89-78 against Mississippi College before defeating Oberlin College out of Ohio 77-63 on Saturday afternoon.
“We played with a lot of energy against Oberlin,” men’s basketball coach Aaron Aanonsen said. “We played aggressive defense and shot the ball extremely well to get up 23 at the half.”
Oberlin scored the first points of the contest before Lakeland went on an 11-0 run to gain a lead that they wouldn’t surrender for the remainder of the game.
The Muskie lead swelled to 27 in the second half of the game where Lakeland shot a stifling 51 percent from the field and had a plus-14 advantage on the boards. Oberlin narrowed the lead towards the end of the game when Lakeland had the game well at hand.
Sophomore forward Jake Schwarz led the Muskies with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Josh Regal added 14 points—half of which came via a 7-of-7 performance at the free throw line.
“Jake played well on the offensive end. He shot well and was very aggressive,” Aanonsen said.
In their first game, Lakeland committed 21 turnovers which led to easy points for a taller, more athletic Mississippi College squad.
“They were the most athletic team I’ve ever coached or played against at the division three college level,” Aanonsen said. “They were very aggressive—that and their size allowed them to get easy baskets.”
The Muskies took a 25-16 lead just after eight minutes had elapsed in the first half before being outscored in a 30-10 run by Mississippi College.
Senior guard Khendal Andrews’ three-pointer cut the Choctaw lead to seven just five minutes into the second half, but that was as close as Lakeland would come to Mississippi College.
Josh Regal got back on track after going 0 for 4 with five points in the previous game versus Lake Forest, collecting 21 points, four rebounds, and six assists.
“It was good to see Josh play as well as he did after being frustrated in the Lake Forest game. He used his teammates really well,” Aanonsen said.
Jake Schwarz grabbed nine rebounds and chipped in 14 points.
Lakeland lost a 77-57 non-conference game to Finlandia on Tuesday, Nov. 24 in their first home game of the season at the Moose and Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
Lakeland shot 32.8 percent during the night while Finlandia was able to hit on 50 percent of their shots, including 6-for-12 from behind the arc.
“We didn’t play well, and we didn’t work hard,” Aanonsen said. “It was a very disappointing loss. We need to learn to play hard and practice hard every single day. We didn’t do that Tuesday night.”
The Muskies were losing by 18 in the first half but brought the deficit to only five after a layup by junior forward Trevor Mckown early in the first half. But the hot-shooting Lions were able to stave off the Muskies with back-to-back three-pointers.
Khendal Andrews posted 15 points which included four three-point baskets for a Lakeland team that shot just 29.6 percent from the field in the opening half. Jake Schwarz had nine points and eight rebounds.
Schwarz scored a career-best 38 points on Tuesday, Dec. 1 to power Lakeland in their NAC opener against Maranatha.
The sophomore shot an impressive 89.5 percent, a drastic improvement from his 2-for-11 night against Finalandia. He also secured a double-double by grabbing eleve rebounds.
“It’s all mental with Jake,” Aanonsen said. “Tonight, he posted up hard and wouldn’t let anybody stop him. He also didn’t turn the ball over, which is key.”
Maranatha cut Lakeland’s lead to one in the second half but a Josh Regal jump shot began a 10-2 run that Lakeland never looked back from.
Lakeland returns to the court this Saturday, Dec. 5, when they play Benedictine at home.