Marian University men’s basketball (4-19, 3-15 NACC) nearly pulled off the upset of Wisconsin Lutheran but fell by a 75-66 final.
Marian was able to come out to a hot start scoring 13 of the first 15 points of the game drawing a WLC timeout. The Warriors used the timeout to even out the momentum as WLC was able to tie the game at 20-20 with 8:37 left in the half. Marian then responded with an 11-2 spurt to retake the lead for the remainder of the half. Wisconsin Lutheran was able to slightly chip into the lead with Marian holding a 38-32 advnatage at the break.
The Sabres had a strong first half on the offensive end especially shooting 14-31 (.452) from the field including 8-14 (.571) from beyond the arc.
The Warriors had a strong start to the second half as WLC was able to use a 9-2 run to retake the lead at 41-40 with 17:03 to play. The remainder of the game would prove to be a back-and-forth affair. Marian would manage to stay in the game but WLC would shoot 20-22 (.909) from the charity stripe in the second half to keep Marian from rallying leading to the 75-66 final.
Juniors DeAndre Ross and Justin Wilson each had a team-high 20 points in the defeat with Ross going 8-11 (.727) from the field. In the post, sophomore Scott Paulus had a game-high 10 rebounds to go with a pair of blocks.
Marian plays their final road game traveling to Concordia Chicago for a 7 p.m. tip Tuesday, Feb. 18.
–FightBlueFight—
