APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University men's basketball team stormed out of the locker room at halftime Saturday and pummeled Lakeland University for the final 20 minutes in an 82-68 nonconference victory at Alexander Gymnasium.
    Lawrence trailed by six at the break, but the Vikings turned that deficit into a double-digit lead in just a shade over six minutes of play. Lawrence (3-3) led by as many as 20 points in the second half and held Lakeland (3-1) to just 25 percent shooting (8-32) from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
    Matthew Kaznikov led five Lawrence players in double figures with 17 points, and he added five assists and three rebounds. Elliot Jung had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Vikings. Lawrence's Adnan Sarancic had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Parker Prahl added 12 points and eight boards. Lawrence rookie forward Nick Hesch was perfect on the night as he scored 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the floor, including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, to go with seven rebounds.
    Lakeland came out hot and led by as many as 13 points at 29-16 midway through the opening half. The Vikings whittled away at the lead and finally got it to single digits after a Kaznikov 3-pointer cut the margin to 39-32 with 4:01 left before the break. Kaznikov scored seven points, sandwiched around a Sarancic layup, to close out the half as Lawrence trailed 44-38 at the break.
    Kaznikov led the charge at the start of the second half as he hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 44-44. After an Aidan Polzin jumper gave the Muskies the lead, Hesch buried a 3-pointer and Lawrence had its first lead of the game at 47-46. 
    After the teams traded baskets, Hesch hit another 3-pointer for a 52-48 lead, and the Vikings started stretching the advantage. 
    Lawrence went on a 15-0 run that pushed the advantage to 62-48 with 12:14 remaining. Six different players scored in the outburst for the Vikings with Jung netting four points during the run.
    The Vikings held onto the double-digit lead and kept building the advantage. The lead grew to 79-59 on Prahl's layup with 3:51 left, and Lakeland never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
    Asanjai Hunter led Lakeland with 13 points.
    Lawrence is back in action on Tuesday when the Vikings travel to Beloit College to open Midwest Conference play.