APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University men's basketball team took No. 17 UW-Oshkosh down to the wire Wednesday, but the Titans hung on for an 80-74 win at Alexander Gymnasium.
    Lawrence, playing without two starters, rallied from 12 points down with eight minutes remaining and got as close as two in the final minutes before Oshkosh recovered. The game also featured a matchup of friends and colleagues on the respective benches. First-year Lawrence head coach Casey Korn was the assistant to Oshkosh coach Matt Lewis before joining the Vikings. 
    Brad Sendell poured in a game-high 27 points for the Vikings (1-3) and handed out four assists. Matthew Kaznikov came off the bench to score 13 points as he went 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Adnan Sarancic added nine points and a team-best eight rebounds for the Vikings, and Jake Fisher, Kyle Lillwitz and Elliot Jung had seven points apiece.
    Eddie Muench scored 21 points to lead four Oshkosh players in double figures.
    Lawrence trailed 67-55 before clawing back into the game down the stretch. Jung's layup trimmed the lead to single digits at 71-63 with 4:44 remaining. 
    After an Oshkosh turnover, Sendell drained a pair of free throws and Kaznikov buried a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 71-68 with 3:21 left. The Titans tacked on a free throw, but Sendell's driving layup trimmed the lead to 72-70 with 2:13 left.
    Oshkosh got a pair of free throws from Hunter Plamann to push the lead back to 74-70 before Sendell was whistled for back-to-back offensive fouls. Those were the only two offensive fouls called in the contest.
    Following an Oshkosh miss at the foul line, Sendell came right back with another driving layup to trim the lead to 74-72 with 33 seconds remaining. Lawrence was forced to foul at that point, and Oshkosh hit 6-of-8 from the line over the final 29 seconds to seal the victory.
    Lawrence jumped on the Titans early and built a 10-4 lead on Fisher's 3-pointer with 15:20 left in the first half. Lawrence got a three-point play and then a 3-pointer from Sendell to grab an 18-9 lead with 11:13 left in the opening half. 
    Oshkosh rallied to take a 26-25 lead with 6:44 left and extended the lead to 10 points at 43-33. The Vikings surged in the final minute of the first half with three points from Sendell and a layup by Kaznikov with one second left to cut the margin to 43-38 at the half.
    Lawrence, which played without starters Brandon Danowski and Julian DeGuzman, returns to action on Nov. 27 when it travels to Lakeland University.