“It was a good win,” said head coach Gary Grzesk. “We have to keep protecting our home court. I thought the crowd really energized us. Now we just have to prepare for a big game on Tuesday.”
The Muskies were led by freshman Matt Rogers who shot 7 for 11 from the field, including one three pointer for 19 points on the evening. Three other Muskies scored in double figures with senior Germayne James scoring 16 while sophomores Kris Saiberlich and Danny Ehnert scored 12 and 10 respectively.
“Germayne (James) is so unselfish he just takes what the defense gives us,” said Grzesk. “Tonight it worked out that he was able to make some plays for himself. Every shot he took was a good shot.
“Matt (Rogers) really finished around the basket. The first time we played them we had some trouble finishing and they blocked a lot of our shots. This time we went up strong with it and Matt particularly had a good game finishing around the basket.”
After allowing Dominican to score 55 percent from the field in the first half the Muskies defense came on strong in the second half holding the Stars to just 36 percent shooting.
“Last game they hurt us on the lob, high-low,” said James. “So this time coach really emphasized help side defense. To be there and have your teammates backing us and that’s what we did. It was a great defensive effort.”
Lakeland continued their hot shooting as they shot 52 percent from the field and 38 percent from behind the arc. The Muskies took advantage of the Stars poor ball handing as they scored 33 points on 19 turnovers.
“A lot of that came from our intensity on the defensive end,” said James. “With our ball pressure we were really trying to make them do things that they aren’t normally comfortable doing. It was huge because in the first half without the turnovers it is a pretty even game.”
Lakeland, 17-4 overall, holds a half-game lead over MSOE in the LMC conference race after the Raiders snuck by Wisconsin Lutheran in overtime, 95-94.