BUFFALO, New York -- The Lake Erie men's basketball team traveled on Sunday to square off against D'Youville for the first time in program history. The Storm came away with a 96-84 victory and move to 6-1 on the year following their fifth straight win. 

Game Recap

The Storm rushed out to a seven point lead just five minutes into the start of the game, scoring seven baskets by seven different players, highlighting their emphasis on offensive cohesion rather than "iso-ball". By nine minutes left in the half, their lead had stretched all the way to 15, however, the Saints weren't going to roll over that easy. They held the Storm scoreless for five straight minutes and took a 36-35 lead, the first Lake Erie deficit in their last 96 minutes of action stretching back to the opening minutes against Clarion. Free throws by Derrick Anderson for his 12th points of the half gave the Storm a one point lead heading into halftime, as Lake Erie found itself in its first competitive game since Ferris State over two weeks ago.

Per usual so far this year, the adjustments made in halftime were the differentiating factor in the game, as the Storm one point lead turned into double-digits without even three minutes going by. Although they would at one point reach a 16-point lead, they never put the game quite out of reach, as there were multiple instances where it was only an eight point game down the stretch. However, the Storm remained cool, calm, and collected at the charity stripe, going 19/21 from the free throw line in the second half and a perfect 8/8 in the final minute to ice the game. 

Analysis

A main reason the Storm won this game is due to their second half shooting. The Storm were lights-out from every aspect of the floor; it was a complete 180° from the first half. From 46% to 66% from the field, 2-11 from deep to 6-9, and from 83% to 90% in free throw shooting, the Storm improved from every spot on the floor. In the second half, Lake Erie quite literally only missed ten total shots. Ten. They made 36. If the offense can replicate this performance against future opponents, the Storm should have no trouble maintaining their stellar start to the season. 

Opposed to the game-flow of their past four contests, the Storm found itself in a dogfight and acted accordingly, playing their key contributors heavy minutes. Over their previous four games, not a single player played over 20 minutes, as Coach Conley was able to completely clear his bench and let everyone eat. In this one, not so much, as five players played at least 22 minutes. Of the 59 second-half Storm points, five players contributed to 56 of those points (Joshua Dames - 14, Derrick Anderson - 14, Cameron Johnson - 12, Todd Simons - 9, and Jake Leibacher - 7). 

Although the Storm had a fantastic shooting performance, they were uncharacteristically sloppy with the basketball, coughing up 19 turnovers. In their sole loss this year they only had 13 - their season high after five games - yet this marks back-to-back games with a high output in this category, as in their 51-point win on Friday they had 18. While it's vital to their offense to have great ball-movement to stretch the defense thin, look for the Storm to try to reel this number in. 

One of the most interesting stats coming into the season to monitor for Lake Erie was the rate at which they attempt free throws versus their opponent. Last year Lake Erie sent their opponents to the free throw line for a conference-leading 587 attempts while only taking 415 themselves, a margin of -172, which, simply put, is a recipe for disaster. They fouled opponents at the highest rate in the G-MAC but didn't get enough calls on the other end to compensate. Additionally, they only shot free throws at a 71% clip last season, slightly below conference average. If you subtract the late free throws that D'Youville committed in this game to try to stay competitive, the Storm were rearing their ugly head of last season, generating far fewer trips to the line than their opponent. So far this year, the Storm are only -2 in free throw attempts compared to their opponents (159-161), but when factored in the level of competition that their previous four games were, it's quite reasonable to question if category this will continue to plague the team. Thankfully however, Lake Erie is sinking their free throws at a 80% so far, a rate which would have easily led the conference in 2023-2024. 

Storm Game Leaders

Points - Derrick Anderson (26), Joshua Dames (16), Cameron Johnson (16), Todd Simons (13), Jake Leibacher (9), and Caleb Piks (6). 

Rebounds - Todd Simons (6), Jake Leibacher (5), Joshua Dames (3), and Kai Bloom (3). 

Assists - Todd Simons (3), Kai Bloom (3), Cameron Johnson (3), Derrick Anderson (2), Josh Irwin (2), and Gio Moore (2). 

Steals - Cameron Johnson (2), Derrick Anderson (2), and Todd Simons, Kai Bloom, Josh Irwin, Jake Leibacher, Caleb Piks, and Aidan Filippini with one apiece. 

Blocks - Jake Leibacher (1) and Derrick Anderson (1). 


Looking Ahead

The next Storm game is on Wednesday when they host Slippery Rock. Currently 2-4 this season, Slippery Rock is averaging just 71.2 points/game compared to Lake Erie's 101.4. Their top three scorers drastically lead the charge: 6'4 Jomo Goings (19.3), 6'5 Maceo Austin (15.3), and 6'6 Ike Herster (15.2). If Lake Erie is able to contain this trio, they should have no trouble continuing their winning streak and staying undefeated at home. After Slippery Rock, the Storm get a nice six-day break before starting G-MAC play, as they travel down to square off against the coaches preseason favorites: the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers. After getting absolutely decimated by the University of Kentucky in an exhibition match 123-52, the Panthers started the season off 0-2 with two extremely close losses against Indianapolis and Lincoln before winning their past four games easily. This should be a super interesting game, as it's been hard to exactly gauge how this young but exciting Storm squad will fare against conference competition.