Marian University built a 16-point halftime lead and this time the Lakeland College men's basketball team was unable to come all the way back in an 83-75 loss Thursday night in a key Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game.

The Sabres shot 53.1% in the first half and 48.1% (26 of 54) for the game to win a battle for the top spot in the NACC. Marian gained some separation in the standings with the win, improving to 10-2 in conference (11-4 overall) while the Muskies dropped to 11-4 overall and 7-3 in the NACC.

Lakeland had just come back from a 13-point halftime deficit on Saturday in a win over Dominican (Ill.) University, but found the going tougher in the second half against Marian.  The Muskies had a hard time cutting into the Sabres' lead, still trailing by 16 on multiple occasions until making a charge late.

Trailing by 15 with just over eight minutes to go, Lakeland whittled the lead down to six on a layup by Brandon Hagenow (So.-Sussex, Wis.) that made it 69-63 with 4:29 to play. The Muskies later got it down to five on a free throw by James Oshkeshequoam (Sr.-Keshena, Wis.) with 1:08 left.

Lakeland would get no closer, though, despite chances. Marian turned it over after Hagenow's basket, but the Muskies turned it right back over. Oshkeshequoam also missed one of two free throws in his trip to the line late, a free throw that could've cut the Sabres' lead to four.

Marian also had all the answers in the first half, and in particular finished the first 20 minutes strong. The Muskies led just once-at 16-13 after back-to-back three-pointers by Oshkeshequoam, who led the team with 19 points-and the Sabres finished the half on a 19-4 run for a 44-28 halftime lead.

Lakeland struggled offensively in the first half, making just 10 of 27 from the field (37.0%) and getting scoring from just five players in the half. Marian, meanwhile, was making 17 of its 32 field goal tries and also beat the Muskies on the boards 21-13 in the half before Lakeland reversed that in the second half.

Oshkeshequoam led five Lakeland players scoring in double figures, while Joey Burris (Jr.-Kiel, Wis.) finished with 14 points. Justin Ward (Sr.-Wisconsin Dells, Wis.) was held to 11 points and eight rebounds before fouling out, while both Hagenow and Stan McKenzie (Sr.-Racine, Wis.) both scored all 11 of their points in the second half.

Alex Stecker led Marian with 21 points and seven rebounds and was terribly efficient all game. Stecker hit 6 of 7 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range, as well as all six of his free throw attempts. Cody Veleke also scored 16 and Jeff Harris added 13 off the bench.

Lakeland faces another tough NACC road game on Saturday when it travels to face Aurora (Ill.) University at 2 p.m.