Lakeland outscored the Raiders 27-9 on bench points, led by freshman Matt Rogers 15 point and two rebound performance.
“I’ve been finding my role,” said Rogers. “When the guys need me to come up and make shots I’ll be there, but you have got to give the guards a lot of credit.”
The guards, sophomore Kris Saiberlich and senior Germayne James, finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
“Guys were unselfish with the basketball,” said head coach Gary Grzesk following his team’s huge victory. “I think for us to do well Germayne and Kris have to get a lot of touches, not that they have to shoot every time, but they have to make a lot of decisions for us, and for most of the game they made great decisions.”
The Muskies’ stingy defense held MSOE to 36.7 percent shooting from the field and just 25 percent from behind the arc.
“We’re always big about defense, and we knew that they are the best field goal percentage team in the conference,” Rogers said. “Our defense won the game.”
MSOE’s Floyd Bayiha scored a game-high 18 points, and Scott Murphy added 16 in the losing effort.
“It was a hard fought game,” Grzesk said. “MSOE wasn’t going to give us anything. We had to come down here and play well and I thought our guys did.”
Lakeland extended its winning streak to 11 games as they improved their conference record to 11-1 and their overall record to 18-4. They travel to Lisle, Ill. for a non-conference match against Benedictine on Saturday.