APPLETON, Wis. -- Chris Page scored a school-record 48 points, as the Lawrence University men's basketball team beat Grinnell College 109-106 Saturday at Darby Gymnasium.
Page, a junior forward from Amherst, Wis., was 20 of 24 from the floor and hit 8 of 12 shots from the foul line. Page's previous career high was 18 points, which he did against Grinnell and Illinois College last season. Page broke the record of 47 points, which was set by Jason Holinbeck at Grinnell on Jan. 21, 2005.
Lawrence (13-1, 8-0 MWC) got 23 points from Andy Hurley and 18 from Ryan Kroeger. John Grotberg paced Grinnell (10-5, 5-3) with 34 points, and Bobby Long was the only other Pioneer in double figures with 25 points.
The Vikings shot 76.5 percent (39-51) from the floor and turned the ball over only 19 times against the Grinnell pressure. The game featured 11 ties and the biggest lead for either team was Lawrence by nine.
The final tie came at 96-96 with 3:16 left, and Lawrence led by two when Page scored on back-to-back layups sandwiched around a Grinnell miss to give the Vikings a 105-99 lead with 1:30 left. Grotberg got a pair of baskets sandwiched around a pair of free throws by Kroeger to trim the margin to 107-103 with 1:01 remaining.
Grinnell began fouling, and the Vikings missed three of their next four free throws to keep the Pioneers alive. Long hit a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to cut the lead to 108-106, and the Pioneers fouled Ben Rosenblatt with 14 seconds remaining.
Rosenblatt made one of two from the line, but the Pioneers missed a pair of 3-pointers in final seconds that would have tied it.
Lawrence, which is the lone unbeaten team left in the league, returns to action Wednesday when it travels to St. Norbert College.