In the Vikings' season opener, Lawrence knocked off the No. 2-ranked University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 82-75 in overtime Tuesday night at Alexander Gymnasium.
Despite losing three starters from last season's Midwest Conference championship team, the Vikings entered the season at full stride. This is the highest-ranked team Lawrence has ever beaten.
The Vikings got 25 points from senior forward Kyle MacGillis and 20 points and a game-high nine rebounds from senior forward Chris Braier. Freshman guard Ryan Kroeger provided a lift off the bench with 15 points and point guard Ben Rosenblatt added 13 points.
The Titans, also playing their season opener, were led by 7-foot-1 center Kerry Gibson, who dropped in a game-high 27 points. Gibson was 7 of 13 from the field and hit 13 of 14 free throws. Jim Capelle added 16 points and Chad Doedens had 13.
For the second straight season, Lawrence did a great job containing standout guard Andy Jahnke, who was limited to five points on 2 of 6 shooting by MacGillis' suffocating defense. He scored only four points in Lawrence's 52-46 win at Oshkosh last season.
Lawrence led by as many as eight points in the second half, but the contest became a dogfight for the final 10 minutes of regulation.
Oshkosh, which held its last lead of the game at 6-5, trailed 65-63 after Braier's layup with 39 seconds left in regulation. Gibson was fouled with 22 seconds left and hit both free throws to tie the game at 65-65.
Gibson then blocked Braier's shot with two seconds left to force the overtime. The Vikings tried a desperation tip-in at the buzzer that went off the rim.
In the overtime, Kroeger came up big. He hit a jumper to give Lawrence a 67-65 edge. After a Doedens layup and a Braier free throw, Kroeger nailed a 3-pointer and Lawrence was up 71-67.
The Titans trimmed the lead back to 71-70 as Capelle hit 3 of 4 free throws, but Oshkosh missed its next two shots from the floor.
The Vikings then started living at the free-throw line. Lawrence hit six consecutive free throws to bump its lead to 77-70 with 47 seconds left.
Oshkosh was forced to foul, and Lawrence hit 6 of 7 free throws in the final 35 seconds to seal the win.
Lawrence heads to the Milwaukee School of Engineering for a nonconference game Saturday night.