PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- The Lake Erie men's basketball team faced off against Ohio Dominican on Saturday in the first of two matchups within a five-day span. The Storm led for nearly the entire game, securing a 75-64 victory and improving to 15-6 on the season. The win moves Lake Erie into sole possession of fourth place in the G-MAC with an 8-5 conference record, trailing only Findlay, Hillsdale, and Kentucky Wesleyan.

Game Recap

Ohio Dominican struck first, capitalizing on two quick turnovers to take an early lead. But from that point on, it was all Lake Erie. Caleb Piks set the tone with an outstanding first half, scoring 11 points on just five shot attempts. The Storm caught fire from beyond the arc, draining eight three-pointers—their most in a conference game this season.

Despite Lake Erie's hot shooting, ODU stayed within reach by dominating the paint, outscoring the Storm 24-10 inside. Lake Erie has size, but without a true enforcer down low, they rely on team defense to battle physical opponents. Even with that challenge, the Storm took control late in the half, turning a one-point lead with about four minutes left into a 41-29 advantage at the break.

The second half was one of the toughest battles Lake Erie has faced all season. Their lead grew to 18 early in the half, but ODU refused to go away, cutting the deficit to 54-46 with 12 minutes remaining. Just as momentum started to shift, Alan Swenson buried a clutch three-pointer, pushing the lead back to double digits—where it stayed the rest of the way.

Ohio Dominican kept pushing, finding success in transition and turning defensive stops into quick offense. But with just over a minute left, any hope of a comeback was erased when Cameron Johnson delivered a thunderous block that brought the crowd to its feet, sealing the win. The victory marks Lake Erie's 15th of the season— already the program's highest total since 2018-19.

Analysis

This season the Storm have been a much better second-half team than they are opening games. Entering tonight in G-MAC play, despite being 7-5, the Storm averaged a three-point halftime deficit versus their opponents (39.1 - 36.2). However, the second half is a whole different story, where Lake Erie has never scored less than 37 points versus conference opponents. From averaging 36 in the first half to having a season low of 37 in the second half, it's truly been a tale of two stories. In second periods, the Storm outscored opponents 500-453 (41.7 - 37.8). So not only does their offense improve by over five points, but their defense also allows fewer buckets. Tonight, the Storm actually were outscored 35-34 in the second half, a statistical outlier this year. In only two of their other wins this season have they been outscored in the second period in a winning effort. Additionally, even in their six losses, they're only -2 net overall in the second half of those games. 

Two bench players deserve major shoutouts for their performances tonight: Caleb Piks and Solomon Kuol. Piks was 3/4 on three-point attempts in the first period and lead the team in points, rebounds, and assists. He ended the game with a statline of 13/8/6, finishing as the team leader across the board along with 83/75/-- shooting splits. As for Solomon, the junior played well early in the season before sitting out two months. Coming back this past week against Ashland, Koul has logged 25 minutes since and has scored 23 points in that timeframe on 9/18 shooting. He's a great option off the bench to a unit that sometimes lacks enough scoring aggression. Tonight, Solomon provided 13 points in just 10 minutes on scorching efficiency (5/7 from the field, 3/4 from deep). 

The Storm have done a great job of defending without fouling in their past three games. In the first 18 games of the year, Lake Erie sent their opponents to the free throw line for 436 shots, over 24 a night. In the past three contests? Just 47 shots, under 16 a game. Don't get it twisted, Lake Erie has still sent opponents to the line for 90 more free throws than the next highest in the conference, but we're trending in the right direction as of late. 

ODU's 22 turnovers are the most the Storm have forced in conference play so far this year. In G-MAC competition, the Storm have done a great job protecting the ball (just 9.2 turnovers/game, fifth fewest) and do a fabulous job causing havoc (14.8 caused turnovers, most by far). As expected, this has given them the highest turnover margin in the G-MAC (+5.54)

The first-half shooting barrage may have been the difference in this game. Lake Erie finished +6 in made threes (11-5), their largest advantage in conference play this season. Their eight first-half threes were the most in any period since playing Clarion 16 games ago. The second half, however, was a different story—they shot just 3-of-14 (21.4%) and lost the half. If the Storm want to take down ODU again on Thursday, they'll need to bring their A-game from deep.

The Matchup

Saturday's win over ODU marked the Storm's sixth straight victory in this matchup, pushing their all-time record against the Panthers to 20-13. Lake Erie has had the upper hand in recent years, and they'll look to extend this streak when they visit a familiar foe on Thursday.

Looking Ahead

As mentioned, these two teams will meet again in just five days when the Storm travel to Columbus. One of the biggest challenges will be containing ODU's 6'7" center, Elijah Hinton, who dominated with an efficient double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Slowing him down will be a key focus in Lake Erie's game plan. Another area for improvement is transition defense—ODU thrived in the open floor, scoring 20 fastbreak points compared to just six for the Storm.

After the rematch with Ohio Dominican, Lake Erie stays on the road for its first matchup of the season against Cedarville. The Yellow Jackets were projected to finish ahead of the Storm in the preseason coaches' poll but had an underwhelming start, sitting at 8-9 overall and 3-7 in conference play. That was before they flipped the switch, dismantling Hillsdale in a blowout and then stunning #9 Findlay on the road, 77-70. Cedarville is hitting its stride at the worst possible time for the Storm, making this a tough test. If Lake Erie wants to stay near the top of the conference, they'll need to prove they can grind out hard-fought road wins against surging opponents.

Storm Season Leaders After 21 Games

Points: Derrick Anderson (299), Cameron Johnson (293), Caleb Piks (153), Joshua Dames (150), and Micah Bays (149)

Rebounds: Cameron Johnson (90), Todd Simons (77), Jake Leibacher (77), Caleb Piks (74), and Joshua Dames (59)

Assists: Derrick Anderson (69), Kai Bloom (33), Cameron Johnson (31), Aidan Filippini (30), and Caleb Piks (28)

Steals: Kai Bloom (30), Joshua Dames (29), Jake Leibacher (26), Derrick Anderson (25), and Micah Bays (23)

Blocks: Cameron Johnson (13), Jake Leibacher (6), Caleb Piks (5), Todd Simons (4), and both Griffin Turay and Solomon Kuol (2)

Made 3PTers: Joshua Dames (32), Caleb Piks (26), Derrick Anderson (23), Cameron Johnson (21), and Micah Bays (19)

Made FTs: Derrick Anderson (88), Cameron Johnson (48), Micah Bays (30), Kai Bloom (22), and Caleb Piks (21)

Minutes Played: Derrick Anderson (471), Jake Leibacher (463), Cameron Johnson (442), Caleb Piks (417), and Kai Bloom (329)