PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- The Lake Erie men's basketball team welcomed the Clarion Golden Eagles for a non-conference matchup on Tuesday at the Jerome T. Osborne Center. The Storm won handily 107-76 after an excellent second half in which they out-scored Clarion by 23 points. The victory puts the Storm record at 4-1, their best start since the 2014-2015 campaign. The 107 points marks the third 100-point game for Lake Erie this year, already breaking a single-season program record. The previous record for a season was two 100+ games in a season, a feat set in multiple different years: 2007, 2008, 2014, and 2020. 

Game Recap

Despite the final score, the first half of action was extremely competitive, as the largest Storm lead never reached double-digits. In fact, it was the Golden Eagles who rushed out to an early 4-0 lead, as the Lake Erie's offense was slow out of the gates, failing to score in their first five trips down the court. However, after an and-one from Kai Bloom 2 1/2 minutes into the game, the Storm would never play from behind again. Per usual with Lake Erie, it was a well-rounded effort from everyone in the first half, with seven players contributing five or more points by halftime. Derrick Anderson led the team in points (10) and assists (3), while Kai Bloom grabbed a team-leading six rebounds. The teams headed into the break with the Storm up eight points, holding onto a 47-39 advantage. 

Whatever Coach Conley tells his guys at halftime needs to be studied by coaches worldwide, because once again, his team was absolutely dominant in the first few minutes of the second half. Last game against Great Lakes Christian College, the Storm started the second half on a 19-2 run, solidifying their victory well before the game was officially over. This game was quite similar. What was once only an eight point lead suddenly became 17 in just two minutes. A few minutes later, the score had ballooned to 69-46. This is what happens when the Storm start hitting three-pointers. Lake Erie's deep shooting woes continued to the first half of the game, as they made only four three's on 15 attempts, but in the first four minutes of the second half they were 4/6 from downtown, the main proponent of their scoring explosion out of the halftime break. From there, the team continued slowly building onto their lead, at one point reaching a game-high of 36 after a Joshua Dames triple splashed home. Ultimately, the game ended up finishing 107-76, another massive blowout for a surging Storm squad that is turning heads earlier in the season than anticipated. 

Analysis

The Storm have found their winning strategy and stuck to it perfected in this game. It all starts with high-energy, full-court pressure. How did that bode against Clarion? Twenty-one turnovers on 13 steals, with 28 points directly resulting from this intensity on the defensive end. Their next core competency? High three-point volume. They know what the data and analytics show, and that's that games after often decided by who makes more shots from distance than the other. In the NBA so far this season, teams that win the net margin of points from threes win their games 72% of the time. Although a different league, basketball is still basketball and the principle remains the same. Make more threes than the other team and you typically win the game. The Storm haven't been shooting well from beyond the arc, just 31.6% so far, but have made 21 more triples than their opponents so far this season after five games. The lone Lake Erie loss this season was the only time that they were out-scored from distance. In this game against Clarion, they met their season average of 36 threes attempted and made 12 of them. While that percentage isn't anything to write home about, the Golden Eagles only made seven, meaning they outscored Clarion by 15 from deep, a pretty note-worthy statistic. Although Clarion had a slightly better shooting percentage from deep, the added value made of taking and making more threes vastly outweighs a few measly percentage points. 

Another major point of emphasis this team does really well is run the floor, and when they get slowed and operate in half-court, they take high-quality shots. Over their last three games, the Storm have a combined 77-40 advantage over their opponents in fast-break points. This shows that they're great at running the break, putting pressure on the recovering defense, but also excel at hustling back when their opponent is looking to go fast as well. Often times in full-court press like the Storm run, although it can create a ton of pressure and lead to added turnovers, it allows for many opportunities for the offense to get easy looks if they break the press. However, the team so far has been fantastic at knowing when to drop back, sprint, and put themselves between their man and the basket at all costs. Really, kudos to the spirit, drive, and hustle Lake Erie has shown. As for their set offensive game-plan, the team essentially only takes layups or threes, as again, from a data standpoint, any other shot makes a lot less sense. From an aesthetics standpoint, mid-range shots are beautiful. When it comes to winning basketball games, it's been shown that they are detriment. The Storm have really emphasized this point and now live in the key hot-spots of 5-feet and in, the free throw line, and from beyond the three-point arc. 

Finally, the last strength of the Lake Erie lies in their depth. The Storm are extremely multi-dimensional and have talent at every level. Everyone at times can be the main focal point of the offense and have plays specifically drawn up for them. The ball is constantly moving, not glued to any players' hand for too long, In this game alone, ten different players made two or more field goals, a huge rarity in college basketball. Typically two or three players demand the main focus from opposing teams. As for this Lake Erie team, how are opponents expected to game-plan for a squad that is more than comfortable playing 13+ different players in meaningful minutes? 

STORM GAME LEADERS 

Points (10+) - Cameron Johnson (21, collegiate career-high), Gio Moore (14), Derrick Anderson (13), Joshua Dames (10), and Todd Simons (10)

Rebounds (4+) - Kai Bloom (6), Joshua Dames (5), Cameron Johnson (4), Todd Simons (4), and Micah Bays (4)

Assists (2+) - Derrick Anderson (6), Todd Simons (3), Caleb Piks (3), Kai Bloom (2), Jake Leibacher (2), and Aidan Filippini (2)

Steals (2+) - Kai Bloom (3), Derrick Anderson (2), Caleb Piks (2), and Joshua Dames (2)


STORM SEASON LEADERS - 5 GAMES 

Points/Game - Cameron Johnson (14.0), Derrick Anderson (11.6), Caleb Piks (9.6), Joshua Dames (9.0), and Solomon Kuol (8.8)

Rebounds/Game - Cameron Johnson (4.8), Joshua Dames (4.4), Todd Simons (4.2), Jake Leibacher (4.2), and Kai Bloom (4.0)

Assists/Game - Derrick Anderson (5.4), Jake Leibacher (2.2), Kai Bloom (2.0), Cameron Johnson (1.6), and Caleb Piks (1.6)

Steals/Game - Joshua Dames (2.4), Kai Bloom (2.0), Derrick Anderson (1.4), Solomon Kuol (1.0), Caleb Piks (1.0), and Trace Bishko (1.0)

Blocks/Game - Cameron Johnson (1.2), Solomon Kuol (.5), Caleb Piks (.2), Jake Leibacher (.2), Griffin Turay (.2), Todd Simons (.2), and Gio Moore (.2)


Looking Ahead

The Storm will wrap up their four-game home-stand when Miami-Middletown visits on Friday at 6 p.m. The Thunderhawks are off to a rough start, as they begin the season 0-8. Their most recent losses come against familiar G-MAC opponents Ashland and Tiffin, losing by a margin 51 and 31 respectively. After squaring off against the Thunderhawks, Lake Erie will travel to Buffalo, New York to square off against D'Youville on Sunday, November 24th. The Saints are 2-3 so far this year, with wins against Goldey-Beacom and the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, while their losses came at the hands of Wilmington, Edinboro, and Mansfield.