PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- The Lake Erie men's basketball team took on Slippery Rock this Wednesday in the final game of their November slate, coming out victorious 103-82. The Storm started out strong and never looked back, climbing to 7-1 on the season, their best start since joining NCAA D-II in 2008-2009.
Game Recap
The Storm trailed for a grand total of 19 seconds in the game after The Rock scored on their first trip down the court.
Derrick Anderson would quickly change that, hitting a three while being fouled on Lake Erie's first possession, a foreshadowing of the type of night the Storm would have from downtown. Their lead extended to double digits and hovered there for the remainder of the half, as the Storm used a well-balanced attack to keep Slippery Rock at bay.
Cameron Johnson led the way with 13 points on only six shots, but really the whole team stepped up, as nine different players scored and the ball was moving on a string (14 assists to just four turnovers). On the other end, Lake Erie held SRU to just 1-9 from deep and forced eight turnovers, a crucial factor leading to the 49-34 halftime lead the Storm enjoyed.
Lake Erie quickly went on a 7-0 run coming out of the break, extending their lead to 22-points with 18:40 left to play. After a four-minute span of evenly-matched basketball with the score resting at 66-47, the Storm exploded to a game-high 36-point advantage following the stellar play of two players in particular:
Gio Moore and
Joshua Dames. Dames went 4-4 from deep in the half with three steals and six boards, while Gio was a main catalyst of the run, scoring nine points in just over four minutes. Although The Rock fought back valiantly, nearly cutting their deficit in half, the Storm still walked out as 21-point victors in a 103-82 final score.
Analysis
This was an extremely promising showing for the Storm, as Slippery Rock is consistently a solid team in the PSAC, a strong conference on a yearly basis. SRU has three dynamic scorers, all with size and length, and although they combined for 61 points, Lake Erie limited the rest of their team to just 21 points, a testament to the strategy and execution of the Storm defense.
The Storm won this game from beyond the arc, as although they were just 73/231 (31.6%) from deep coming into the game, it was obvious they had this type of performance in them, as they went 13/25 compared to just 3/17 from their opponent. If the Storm had an average shooting night, this game is a heck of a lot closer.
Lake Erie comfortably survived their ugliest half of the season in the second half, coughing up 20 turnovers, well above their full
game average of just 14 heading into the night. This carelessness sparked a 16-point Rock run in the winding minutes, never quite giving the game a scare but not the performance wanted out of the second/third unit off the bench. Look for a sharper showing in their next outing.
The Storm continue to be menaces fighting for rebounds. In this game, Lake Erie won the rebounding advantage 38-20 and had ten more offense boards than Slippery Rock, leading to an additional nine point margin on second-chance points.
The consistent pressure once again got under their opponents' skin, as they collected another 17 steals. So far this year, Lake Erie leads the G-MAC with 120 steals. The next closest? Findlay with just 77.
Storm Game Leaders
Points - Cameron Johnson (18),
Joshua Dames (12),
Micah Bays (11),
Griffin Turay (10),
Gio Moore (10), and
Kai Bloom (9).
Rebounds - Joshua Dames (8),
Jake Leibacher (6),
Derrick Anderson (4), and
Todd Simons (4).
Assists - Aidan Filippini (6),
Todd Simons (5),
C.J. Hornbeak (4), and
Cameron Johnson (3).
Steals - Derrick Anderson (4),
Kai Bloom (3),
Joshua Dames (3),
Micah Bays (3), and
Jake Leibacher (2).
Blocks - Griffin Turay (1).
The Matchup
Winning on Wednesday meant that the Storm now hold a 2-1 record over Slippery Rock all-time. When these teams last matched up 11 years ago, it was The Rock that dealt a 20-point win. The tides are certainly swinging in Lake Erie's favor.
Looking Ahead
The next Storm game isn't until Tuesday, December 3rd when they square off against their first conference foe: Kentucky Wesleyan. The Panthers were selected by G-MAC coaches as preseason favorites to win the conference, and have started their season 4-2 with wins against Simmons, Delta State, IU Southwest and King University, while their losses were early on against Indianapolis and Lincoln. They are well-rounded in scoring with five players averaging double-digits in points: 6'5 junior Logan McIntire (16.3), 6'1 fifth-year Kennedy Miles (14.2), 6'2 junior Quentin Toles (13.5), 6'5 senior Edward Jones Jr. (10.5), and 6'7 junior Fatih Huyuk (10.0).
The next home game isn't until Sunday, December 14th at 3 PM when they host Malone (3-3).
