Lakeland College

Saiberlich has career day, but Muskies suffer tough loss

Athletics - posted on 1/19/2008

Senior Kris Saiberlich had a memorable individual performance, but Wisconsin Lutheran made it a day to forget as the visiting Warriors handed Lakeland a 103-94 loss Saturday.

Saiberlich finished with a career-high 39 points, fueled by an amazing 10-of-15 performance from the 3-point line.

But WLC was 20 of 38 from long range as a team, as Lakeland's defense allowed the largest offensive output by an opponent this season.

The loss caps a rough week for the Muskies, who had won eight straight before dropping two contests at home this week. Concordia, Wis., beat Lakeland in overtime on Tuesday. The Muskies (10-6, 6-3) fall into a tie for third place in the Northern Athletics Conference with Marian, three games behind unbeaten league leader Aurora and a game behind second-place Edgewood in the loss column.

"We were just not tough enough," said Lakeland head coach Kyle Brumett. "We've got a team with five seniors and an experienced junior and we need to toughen up. When you give up that many open 3s and offensive rebounds it shows we're not tough enough.

"A lot of what hurt us Tuesday hurt us again tonight. We've got to go back to work and improve and go from there."

Saiberlich, a standout guard from Fond du Lac, had 23 at the half as he hit 7 of 9 3-point shots before the break. He finished with 13 baskets on 21 shots, and made all three of his free throws.

"Kris had a pretty amazing game offensively, but shame on all of us for not playing better defensively to capitalize on how good he was," Brumett said. "Give some credit to them. We might have left them open some, but they had to knock those shots in."

Shane Grube finished with 16 and Aaron Regal 14. Danny Ehnert had a team-best nine rebounds, but the Warriors (10-4, 4-3) won the rebound battle, 45-39. The Warriors had six players score in double figures, led by Kyle Plath, who had 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting from 3-point range.

Lakeland will try to rebound Wednesday with a NAC game at Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Muskies play three of their next four games on the road.

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