APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University men's basketball team clinched its fourth Midwest Conference championship in the last five seasons with a 72-48 victory over Beloit College Saturday at Alexander Gymnasium.
Lawrence's victory, coupled with Carroll College's loss at St. Norbert College on Saturday, gave the Vikings (18-2, 13-1 MWC) the title outright. This is Lawrence's seventh league title in school history (1925, 1943, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008). Only two current members of the conference have won more conference titles than the Vikings (Beloit 18, Ripon 14).
The 22nd-ranked Vikings also clinched the right to host the MWC Tournament on Feb. 29-March 1. The winner of the four-team tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Ryan Kroeger paced Lawrence's attack on Saturday with 15 points, and Chris Page added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Andy Horton had a double-double for Beloit (4-18, 2-13) with 15 points and 12 rebounds. He left the game late with a leg injury.
The Vikings started to pull away midway through the first half. Lawrence went on an 8-0 run, with Jayce Apelgren scoring four points in that stretch, to give the Vikings a 17-5 lead with 11:53 left in the opening half.
The Bucs cut the lead to nine at 22-13 after Tyler Isham's 3-pointer with 10:16 left, but Lawrence went on a 16-2 run to build its largest lead of the first half, 23 points. Andy Hurley, who finished with nine points, scored six in that stretch, and Doug Kadison, Drew Shaw, and Kroeger all hit 3-pointers to give Lawrence a 38-15 lead with 5:53 left.
The Vikings were up 43-22 at the half and led by as many as 28 points in the second half. Beloit never got closer than 16 points after the break.
Lawrence wraps up the home portion of the regular-season schedule when it hosts St. Norbert on Wednesday.