APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University men's basketball team overcame a poor shooting night to down Beloit College 59-55 in a Midwest Conference game Tuesday night at Alexander Gymnasium.
John Dekker scored 19 points to pace Lawrence (5-5, 2-1 MWC). Tyler Crisman added 13 points and Dustin Lee scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Vikings. Travis Towns and Michael Horton scored 11 points apiece to lead Beloit (3-9, 1-4).
Lawrence shot 32.8 percent from the floor (19-58), including 21.7 percent (5-23) on 3-pointers. The Vikings could have pulled away at the foul line but hit on only 16 of 33 attempts (48.5 percent). Beloit also had a rough shooting night, and the Bucs shot 38.9 percent from the floor and 47.4 percent from the foul line.
Lawrence, which defeated Beloit for the 16th consecutive time, led 29-20 at the half, but the Bucs battled back to take a 39-35 lead with 10:57 left.
Crisman answered for the Vikings with a 3-pointer, and Dekker then had a conventional three-point play to give Lawrence a 41-39 lead with 10:02 remaining. The Vikings would lead the rest of the way, but the Bucs made it interesting.
The Vikings went on a 10-3 run, capped by a pair of Lee free throws, to take a 53-45 lead with 3:40 left. Poor foul shooting allowed Beloit to cut the lead to 56-52 with 30 seconds left, but Crisman then made 1 of 2 from the line, and Lee hit a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left to give Lawrence a 59-52 lead and seal the win.
Lawrence returns to action at home on Friday when it hosts Monmouth College.