SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Apparently the Edgewood College Eagles (13-12, 12-8 NACC) just can't get enough of Lakeland College (15-10, 11-9 NACC) this season. After a 93-61 win in January and a nail-biting 62-60 win away from home Wednesday night, the Eagles will meet the Muskies again on Saturday at 2 pm in the Edgedome for a NACC quarterfinal matchup.
Up 62-60 with just nine seconds left, senior point guard Dylan Rusch missed the front end of a one-and-one to give the Muskies a shot at a victory on their final possession. Senior guard Joey Burris drove in from the right side and put up a floater that was off the mark, but Brandon Hagenow was there for the offensive rebound. He corralled the ball with about two seconds left and put up an off-balance shot that found the bottom of the net but the refs signaled that his shot was a split second late.
The win was the Eagles' fourth that has been decided by three points or less out of their last five victories and senior center Trevor Neale tied a career-high with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
Moments before the final possession with Edgewood College up 59-57, Dylan Rusch hit a contested and off-balance three-pointer with 1:51 left to beat the shot clock to give the Eagles their largest lead since the 14:42 mark of the first half.
Burris responded two possessions later with a clutch three-point play following an Eagles turnover to make it 62-60 with 1:03 left. Missed layups for both teams in the next two possessions then set up the foul on Rusch that sent him to the line with nine seconds left.
The Eagles were down 33-28 at the half but scored six of the first eight points in the second to pull within two. Minutes later the Muskies stretched their lead back to six on an Eric Nygaard layup with 15:23 left, but that would be the largest lead for either team in the second half.
In the first half, no team led by more than five points until Joey Burris converted on a layup to make it 31-24 Muskies. Joe Klocek responded by hitting jumpers on back-to-back possessions but Burris hit another one on the other end before the half to give the Muskies a 33-28 lead at the break. The Muskies led for the final 11:07 of the half after Travis Kell hit a jumper to go up 12-11.
The Eagles hit their first three-pointer of the game but went 0-for-7 for the rest of the first half. Dylan Heemstra connected on the first triple and had seven of the Eagles' first 11 points. Jake Heuer, Tal Diekvoss, Joe Klocek and Rusch hit three's in the second half and the Eagles finished 5-for-17 from beyond the arc.
Neale also scored 21 earlier this year on Jan. 27 against MSOE and 12 of his points tonight came in the second half. Four other Eagles tallied seven points in Heemstra, Diekvoss, Rusch and Klocek while Emilio Lopez chipped in six.
Burris wound up with 13 and was one of three players in double figures for Lakeland. Tanner Hackl (12) and Kurt Jansen (10) were the others. The Muskies shot 51.7 percent (15-of-29) in the first half and finished with a mark of 44.1 percent (26-of-59).
The three other NACC Tournament quarterfinal matchups on Saturday include No. 8 Marian at No. 1 Aurora, No. 7 Wisconsin Lutheran at No. 2 Benedictine and No. 6 MSOE at No. 3 Concordia Wisconsin.
