The Vikings and Pioneers advanced to the title game with tough semifinal victories Friday night at Alexander Gymnasium. Lawrence (20-4), the top seed, held off fourth seed Lake Forest College (13-11) 68-63. Second seed Carroll (17-7) downed third seed Grinnell College (18-6)
143-127. The championship game begins at 3:00 p.m. Saturday.
Conference champion Lawrence led by as many as 15 points midway through the first half, but Lake Forest chipped away to cut the lead to 34-26 at the half.
The Vikings were able to maintain an uncomfortable edge over the Foresters and led 61-53 on a pair of Dan Evans free throws with 2:55 left. Greg Klos later hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 61-57 with 1:02 left, and the Foresters started to foul.
Lawrence’s Chris MacGillis, who finished with a game-high 24 points, made 7 of 8 free throws in the final 42 seconds to help seal the win for the Vikings. Chris Braier added 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Lawrence, and Rob Nenahlo, who was forced to sit out most of the first half with foul trouble, added 11 points.
Brad Wehner paced Lake Forest with 16 points, and Franklyn Beckford added 11 points and 11 rebounds.
After going toe-to-toe for the first 25 minutes of the game, Carroll finally got some breathing room against Grinnell. Carroll went on a 7-0 run to go up 101-88 with 13:14 left, and Carroll was able to hold that double-digit edge until Grinnell hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to 122-117 with 4:59 remaining.
That was as close as Grinnell would get, and Carroll made 6 of 6 free throws in the final 1:26 to seal the victory.
Kevin Lauer paced Carroll with 32 points and was one of six players in double figures. Greg Monfre added 29 points, seven assists, and six rebounds. Ben Hickethier had 24 points, and Jason Scheper added 19 points and a game-high nine rebounds for Carroll.
Steve Wood poured in 38 points, handed out 10 assists, and had five rebounds in his final game for Grinnell.