MADISON, Wis. – Sometimes you win a basketball game by 25. Sometimes you only come away with the victory by the slimmest of margins. MSOE traveled to Madison to take on Edgewood on a snowy Saturday afternoon and will head back home with a win thanks to some stellar defense in the games final minutes.

RESULT
MSOE – 65
Edgewood – 64

HOW IT HAPPENED
MSOE (6-7, 3-5 NACC) played up to their potential once again this afternoon in the state capital, but still ran into some second half trouble that almost cost them the game. The Raiders outscored Edgewood (3-10, 2-6 NACC) 34-26 in the opening 20 minutes, but it wasn't like that initially. The Raiders had to fight back from a six-point deficit that never seemed to shrink until Matthew Kirmse and Travis Ballard scored seven points in 56 seconds to grab the 20-19 advantage with six minutes left before the half. The Red & White grew their lead to nine points early on in the second frame, but the Eagles never stared to phone it in. With 6:24 left in regulation, the Raiders held a 61-49 advantage. Unfortunately, that's the exact same time that the Eagles decided to step up their game. From that point on, EC went on a 15-4 run to close out the ballgame. However, with the score at 65-64, the MSOE defense held the Eagles scoreless for the last 2:16 seconds of play to hang onto the one-point victory on Saturday afternoon.

MSOE STAT TRACKER
Points – Travis Ballard (23)
Rebounds – Josh Herzog & Matthew Kirmse (7)
Assists – Michael Pitrof (6)
Steals – Sammy Linn (2)
Blocks – Travis Ballard (2)

WHO'S ON DECK
The Raiders will look to make a statement when they host first place Wisconsin Lutheran on Wednesday night. Tipoff from Hotchkin Arena is set for 7:00 pm.

For up-to-the-minute MSOE Raiders news, visit us at www.go-raiders.com. You can also follow the Red & White on Twitter @MSOE_Raiders and @msoe_raiders on Instagram.