MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Edgewood College men's basketball team rallied from a 10-point second half deficit against MSOE, but couldn't hang out to a three-point lead in the last three minutes, suffering a 64-62 loss to the Raiders.Dylan Rusch scored a career-high point total andCashton Craig hit a go-ahead three-point basket, but it would be the last basket Edgewood College would score at the Kern Center on Saturday.
A fastbreak layup by John Cording gave MSOE (5-3, 3-1 NAC) a 40-30 lead with a little more than 17 minutes remaining. At that point Rusch, a sophomore guard, embarked on his own personal scoring spree. Rusch scored a layup sandwiched in between four free throws to quickly cut the Raiders' margin to four points. A minute later, Craig nailed a three-point basket and Joe Klocek added a jump shot to cap an 11-0 Eagle run and put Edgewood College ahead for the first time in the game 41-40.
The Eagles' lead was short-lived however, as MSOE immediately went back up by six points with 13 minutes to play. MSOE still held the lead 59-53 with less than five minutes left when Rusch went on another tear. He drilled back-to-back three-point baskets to tie the game and two possessions later Rusch assisted Craig on his third three-pointer of the game to give the Eagles a 62-59 lead with 3:10 to go.
Bob Slovensky brought the Raiders back to even with a three-point basket of his own. The two teams then traded empty possessions, before Justin Williams pulled in an offensive rebound for the Eagles and head coach Justin Meyer called timeout with 24 seconds left to play. The Eagles worked the ball to Craig for a three-point shot with 11 seconds left, but it was off the mark. Worse for the Eagles, MSOE's Austin Stueck grabbed the rebound and found Jeremiah Erdmann for a fastbreak layup to put the Raiders ahead 64-62 with four seconds left to play. A final tying shot by Craig also missed its target.
Rusch nearly doubled his previous career-high, scoring 18 points in large part to 4-for-5 shooting from the three-point line. Klocek added 13 points, while Craig hit three three-point baskets for nine points. Edgewood College hit 44.7 percent from the floor, including a 10-for-23 performance from behind the arc. The Eagles also committed just six turnovers.
MSOE was led by Stueck who had 15 points and Victor Bande who chipped in 10 points. The Raiders shot an identical 44.7 percent from the field and only committed eight turnovers.
Edgewood College will play their next five games out of conference, starting with a home game on Tuesday night against Viterbo University. Tip time is 8:00 p.m. and the game can be seen live on EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.