CHICAGO – It was clear Saturday afternoon the Goodman Center was hosting a battle between the first- and last-place teams in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Roosevelt took full control early and never relented, drowning Cardinal Stritch in waves of made baskets and defensive pressure for a 91-42 win. It was the largest conference win in program history for the Lakers and the second-fewest points the Lakers have allowed to a league rival in their history.

The Lakers (19-7, 16-2 CCAC) shot nearly 58 percent from the field across the 40 minutes, including knocking down half of their 26 3-point attempts. Meanwhile, the Wolves made just 26 percent of their attempts and shot 24 percent from behind the arc, having trailed by double figures for nearly 33 minutes of the contest.

It took some time for the Lakers to fire up the offense as it took more than five minutes for Roosevelt to jump out to a 9-2 lead. It took just 2:12 for the Lakers to score their next nine points and there was no slowing down the attack once it started to heat up. Roosevelt shot 53.3 percent from the floor in the first half, including 50 percent from 3-point range, en route to a 42-13 lead at the intermission. The Wolves made just four shots in the opening 20 minutes and shot 13.8 percent from the floor.

Julio Montes II then took control of the game coming out of halftime, and made Cardinal Stritch pay for its miscues. The freshman dropped 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, connecting on 6 of 9 shots in the period, including 4 of 6 from long range. No sequence better described the Lakers' dominance than Montes pulling up for an easy jumper, stealing the inbounds pass, hitting a 3 then coming off a screen on Roosevelt's next possession to bury another 3-pointer.

Montes also added four rebounds, three assists and three steals in another strong team effort from the Lakers. Yuri Swinford scored all 11 of his points in the first half and Maurice Commander added nine of his 11 in the opening 20 minutes. Shane Stevensen had a balanced performance with 13 points and seven rebounds plus rejecting four shots in the lane. His rim protection was a big reason Roosevelt outscored Cardinal Stritch 41-12 in the paint.

Chima Nwosu continued his important contributions off the bench with eight points and eight rebounds. In the second half, Andrew Veon entered the game and scored eight quick points while Mark Johnson secured five rebounds in 15 minutes of action. Lucas Jordan also made a large impact in minimal minutes with six points on two corner 3-pointers during his five minutes on the floor.

What was refreshing for the Lakers is the victory was far from perfect, giving them plenty of areas to work on in practice ahead of Wednesday's showdown on the South Side. Roosevelt committed 17 turnovers, the most it has given up since before Thanksgiving, and the Lakers allowed the Wolves to grab 12 offensive rebounds, even if Cardinal Stritch didn't do anything with those second chances.

The Lakers now prepare to travel to the South Side on Wednesday night for a clash of CCAC titans as the first-place Lakers battle second-place St. Xavier with a share of the conference title on the line for the 7:30 p.m. tipoff with the Cougars.