ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern (Minn.) shot 54.5% from the field and never trailed as the Lakeland University men's basketball team took its first loss of the season with a 90-62 defeat on the road Wednesday night at Northwestern's Ericksen Center.

Northwestern's shooting was hot but Lakeland's was not, with the Muskies shooting 32.5% and playing from behind the entire contest. The Eagles won the first meeting between the two schools in nearly 60 years while Lakeland dropped to 1-1 on the current season.

The Muskies' second straight game against an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference opponent bore little resemblance to their first. Lakeland defeated North Central (Minn.) University 97-76 on Saturday in its season opener, shooting
48.7% and hitting 17 three-pointers, but against Northwestern the Muskies made just 25 of 77 shots from the field, including just 6 of 28 from three-point range.

The defending UMAC regular season champion Eagles (2-1 overall) came in rusty, having not played in over a month, but warmed up quickly. UNW scored the game's first seven points, built a 10-point lead just over 10 minutes in, and led by as many as 18 late in the half on the way to a 45-29 halftime lead,

Lakeland was especially icy in the first 20 minutes, making just 12 of 42 shots (28.6%), and the struggles continued after halftime. The Muskies missed their first eight field goals of the second half, and Northwestern blew the game open. A 13-2 run ended with a steal and dunk by Henry Fahnbulleh making it 58-31 with 15 minutes, 24 seconds left in the game. Lakeland briefly rallied back back within 16 on three occasions, the final time coming on a layup by Earl Lewis (Jr.-Madison, Wis.) making it 66-50 with 9:12 left, but would get no closer.

Jequan Pegeese (Sr.-Beloit, Wis.) scored 11 points to lead Lakeland, while Lewis, Trenton Nickel (Sr.-Kiel, Wis.) and Aiden Polzin (Fr.-Clintonville, Wis.) added 10 points each. Greg Barber (Sr.-Miami, Fla.) also added four points plus a team-high eight rebounds.

Kyle Kaemingk scored 18 points to lead five players scoring in double figures as Northwestern made 36 of 66 shots from the field, including 17 of 27 (63.0%) in the second half. The Eagles also posted a 49-36 rebounding advantage and outscored Lakeland in the paint 46-32.

The matchup between the two schools was the first since Feb. 10, 1962, when Lakeland blitzed Northwestern 145-68 back when both were members of the Badger-Gopher Conference. The Eagles now lead the all-time series 7-4.

Lakeland now gets ready for its scheduled Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener against Concordia University Wisconsin next Friday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium. The game will be the first of two against the Falcons in two days, with the teams also playing at Lakeland the next evening.