GRINNELL, Iowa -- The Lawrence University men's basketball team missed a shot in the final seconds, and Grinnell College held on for a 90-89 Midwest Conference victory Friday night at Darby Gym.
John Dekker scored 26 points and had 12 assists to pace Lawrence (6-8, 3-4 MWC). Dylan Seelman led Grinnell (3-10, 2-5) with 21 points and Matt Skelly added 20.
Jon Mays added a career-high 22 points for the Vikings. Erik Borresen had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for Lawrence.
The Vikings fell behind big early, and Grinnell led by 18 at 44-26 with 6:53 left in the first half. The Vikings went on a 22-8 run over the rest of the half and trimmed the lead to 52-48 at the break. Dekker had seven points in that stretch and Dustin Lee added five.
Grinnell never gave up the lead in the second half as it hovered between one point and nine over the final 20 minutes.
Lawrence trailed 87-80 with 4:24 left before Borresen scored on back-to-back layups. Skelly hit a 3-pointer for Grinnell, but Mays' layup with 2:30 left cut the lead to 90-86.
After a Grinnell turnover, Dekker's layup cut the marting to 90-88 with 1:57 left. The teams then went scoreless for the next 1:19 before Borresen was fouled with 38 seconds left.
Borresen missed the first free throw but made the second to cut the lead to 90-89. The Vikings fouled Matt Chalupa, who missed the front end of a one-and-one. Dekker missed a jumper in the waning seconds that would have won it for Lawrnece.
The Vikings return to action on Saturday at Monmouth College.