Between now and the new year, Benedictine University Men's Basketball has just three games on the schedule. BenU will take on Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference foes Lakeland (December 14, 2:00 p.m.) and Milwaukee School of Engineering (December 21, 7:00 p.m.) and non-conference opponent North Park (December 17, 7:30 p.m.).

The Eagles head into the light stretch on a two-game NACC winning streak, defeating both Concordia-Chicago and Concordia-Wisconsin at the Dan and Ada Rice Center last week. The Eagles used a potent offense to capture the two victories, scoring a combined 186 points and shooting just under 57 percent from the field. A big reason for the success on offense has been junior big man Tim McGinty, who tallied 50 points and pulled down 18 rebounds in the two contests. He's also hit four out of seven three-pointers in that span.

Much like last Saturday's 99-95 victory over Concordia-Wisconsin, this Saturday's matchup at Lakeland (6-2, 3-1) also figures to be a track meet. After averaging 82.4 points per game and falling in the championship game of the conference tournament last season, the Muskies are scoring even more in this campaign, averaging 84.9 per contest (second in the NACC). With BenU sitting at third in the conference at 78.9, there figures to be a lot of points scored in Plymouth, Wisconsin on Saturday.

Lakeland's doing the scoring despite losing last year's conference Player of the Year Jake Schwartz to graduation. The Muskies are now led by senior Justin Ward, who leads the conference in both points (22.7) and rebounds (11.3) per game this year after an all-conference first teamer in 2012-2013. In addition, senior guard James Oshkeshequoam is fourth in the NACC at 18 points per contest. Last season, the Eagles fell to the Muskies at home 87-80 behind Ward's 32 points. BenU's Michael Woolf poured in a career-high 29 points in the defeat.

BenU will take Woolf's old school on Tuesday night when the team travels to North Park (2-3) for a non-conference matchup. Members of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, the Chicago school does not begin conference play until after the new year. Of the five contests the Vikings have played, just one has been against an opponent BenU has seen. Like the Eagles, North Park defeated Alma 79-75. North Park also faced the NACC's Wisconsin Lutheran, falling 89-83.

The Eagles and Vikings met last season, with BenU falling 75-57 at the Rice Center. North Park shot just under 50 percent in the contest and had four players in double figures.

BenU's next opponent will be MSOE (3-2, 1-2) at home on the 21st, who was one of the best teams in the conference a season ago. The Raiders went 17-9 overall and 11-5 in the conference in the 2012-2013 campaign and was the only NACC team to allow less than 1,000 points in conference games. Benedictine experienced that tough defense first hand, as the Eagles fell to the Raiders 67-52 in Milwaukee.

MSOE still has last year's conference Freshman of the Year Austin Stueck, and the 6-3 forward is off to a teriffic start this season. He's averaging a team-high 16.4 points per game (ninth in the NACC), while junior guard Jeremiah Erdmann is among the conference leaders in field goal (58.3%, fourth) and three-point field goal percentage (50%, third).The Raider's record could look much different by December 21, as the team will face Dominican, Knox, and Lakeland all at home before facing BenU.