Lakers' Streak Snapped At No. 11 Indiana Wesleyan

MARIAN, Ind. – Roosevelt was unable to find more second-half magic Saturday afternoon in a 77-63 loss at No. 11 Indiana Wesleyan in a non-conference matchup in Marian, Ind., ending the Lakers' eight-game win streak.

The Lakers (9-4) led for most of the first half before an 11-0 run gave the Wildcats a lead right before halftime. Roosevelt responded by taking a 45-44 lead with 14:44 to go, but Indiana Wesleyan slowly but surely used its size advantage to wear down the Lakers defense. The Wildcats shot nearly 82 percent in the second half and outrebounded the Lakers 16-9 over the final 20 minutes. Indiana Wesleyan ended up outscoring Roosevelt 56-36 in the paint and edging out a 28-26 advantage on the glass.

After Roosevelt took its only lead in the second half, Indiana Wesleyan scored the next seven points. It was these little runs that ended up making all the difference as the Wildcats kept extending the lead and not allowing the Lakers to inch back into the game. Roosevelt was able to sneak to within eight with less than three minutes remaining in the game, but the Lakers made just 1 of 5 down the stretch.

Roosevelt shot just 39 percent from the field for the game, which was hampered by making just 12 of 35 shots in the second half. The Lakers had chances to increase their early lead but shot just 1 of 12 from long range in the first half, so they were unable to extend their advantage past six. They were 12 of 17 from two-point range in the first half but were just 7 of 19 in the second half from inside the arc.

One area where the Lakers seemed to do well was on the offensive glass. When Roosevelt secured offensive rebounds, it was able to score efficiently with 23 second-chance points off 12 offensive boards. It was a Yuri Swinford offensive rebound that ended up on the perimeter for Lucas Jordan to sink the 3-pointer that gave the Lakers the 45-44 lead. Swinford, Ayo Ajiboye and Matt Myers all grabbed three offensive rebounds in the loss.

Ajiboye paced the Lakers with 15 points and five rebounds while Swinford had 11 points, five boards and five assists.

The Lakers return home Tuesday as they try to stay atop the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings with a matchup against Judson at 7:30 p.m. back at the Goodman Center.