NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team continued a frustrating recent trend in a 75-67 defeat to Wisconsin Lutheran College on Tuesday.

The Knights battled hard on both ends of the court and put themselves in position to win in the final minutes, but went scoreless over a 3:38 stretch to allow the Warriors to take control and secure the win.

MLC had similar situations during defeats to North Central and Marian down the stretch over the last week, where they were in position to come up with a win but couldn't get a shot to fall down the stretch to make it happen.

The Knights fell behind by as many as 10 points in the first half, but a 14-2 run sparked by Jacob Price, Jonathan Riebe and Micah Kieselhorst off the bench cut the deficit to one (37-36) at the half.

The teams went back and forth for much of the second half as the lead changed 10 times. The Knights' zone defense frustrated the Warriors throughout the game, but MLC was unable to take advantage on the other end to build a lead. After a Kieselhorst three-pointer tied the game at 59-59 with 4:20 left in the game, the Knights missed their next seven attempts from the field as the Warriors went on a 12-0 run over the next 3:38 to take control of the game. 

The Knights outscored the Warriors 38-32 in the paint, but were unable to make up the difference at the free throw line (outscored 14-5) or from behind the three-point arc (outscored 27-18).

Price finished with a career-best 16 points on 6-10 shooting in 19 minutes to lead MLC. Kieselhorst added 11 points and six rebounds, while Jack Heichelbech scored 10 points. 

MLC fell to 2-7 on the season in defeat, while the Warriors improved to 6-3 with the win.

The Knights will return to action on Thursday, December 19, when they travel to Saint Mary's for a game scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.