MILWAUKEE (WLCSports.com) - Wisconsin Lutheran College won its ninth straight Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game on Saturday, despite shooting just 31.3 percent in the second half. The Warriors held on for a 77-75 win over Rockford on Winterfest at the Time of Grace Center.
WLC (13-6, 10-2 NACC), which traded eight leads with the Regents (8-10, 4-8 NACC) and saw the score tied on five occasions throughout the first half, jumped out to an 8-3 lead after consecutive three-pointers from senior
Simeon Strauss (Chicago, Ill.). RU took its first lead of the game at 14-12 following a pair of free throws at the 12:17 mark, and later led by four points (28-24) with 5:04 remaining in the opening half. Wisconsin Lutheran saved its biggest run of the half for the final minutes, as the Warriors closed the period on a 7-0 run for a 40-34 halftime lead.
Rockford grabbed its first lead of the second half at 45-44 after a 6-0 run at the 16:44 mark. WLC responded immediately with an 8-0 run, its largest of the game, following a layup from junior
Jacob Hefle (Germantown, Wis.). The Regents later used an 8-0 spurt of their own to leap back in front 55-54 with 11:32 remaining.
Wisconsin Lutheran took the lead back again on its next possession, and maintained an advantage between one and five points over the next seven-plus minutes. The Warriors' lead grew to as many as six after a pair of free throws by junior
Ryan Broeckel (Chilton, Wis.) with 3:43 left to play.
RU knotted the score up one last time at 71-71 with 1:27 on the clock, but three free throws put WLC back in front with 0:40 seconds left. Leading 77-74 with just 0:05 seconds to play, Wisconsin Lutheran fouled Rockford's Charles Burnell, who made the first of two free throws. His second attempt missed but the Regents grabbed the rebound and the game-tying jumper in the lane was no good as time expired.
Broeckel finished with a game-high 26 points in addition to three blocked shots. Junior
Grayson Goetz (Aurora, Ill.) followed with 14 points and six assists. Hefle was the third Warrior to reach double digits with 10 points. Strauss grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. WLC, which shot 39.3 percent (24-for-61) from the floor in the game, struggled from beyond the arc (2-for-19) and charity stripe (15-for-25) in the second half.Â
Kevin Diemer scored 19 points to lead three players in double figures for RU, which shot 39.1 percent (25-for-64) for the game but was held without a three-point make (0-for-12) in the second half.
Wisconsin Lutheran travels to Fond du Lac on Tuesday for a NACC showdown against Marian (11-7, 9-2 NACC). Live coverage links will be available for the first-place battle at WLCSports.com.
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