NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- The Lake Erie men's basketball team hit the road to face the Walsh Cavaliers and came away with a convincing 80-68 victory, marking their 12th double-digit win of the season. The Storm now stand at 19-6 overall and 12-5 in G-MAC play, holding third place in the conference standings. With just three games left, a G-MAC home tournament game is looking more and more likely.
 
Game Recap

The first seven minutes saw a tightly contested battle, with both teams trading baskets as they fought to gain early momentum. Lake Erie was the first to break away, going on a 9-0 run from 13:35 to 9:14 to build a 24-11 lead. Walsh responded immediately with a 10-0 run of their own, cutting the deficit to 24-21 with 6:24 left in the half. The teams found themselves tied at 32 with 1:53 remaining, but the Storm regained control and entered halftime up 37-34.

Walsh briefly took their final lead at 38-37 early in the second half, but from there, Lake Erie took command. A three-pointer from Caleb Piks at 12:48 extended the Storm's lead to 54-44, and they continued to pull away. Their largest lead came at 76-58 after an Aidan Filippini layup with 5:33 remaining, and from that point on, it was smooth sailing. With the win, Lake Erie secured their 12th conference victory, tying their program high since joining the G-MAC (previously set in 2019).

Analysis

Unbelievably, for the fifth game in a row, Lake Erie's relentless defense forced 20+ turnovers. To highlight just how dominant the Storm have been in creating pressure: the current G-MAC standings are 1. Findlay (16-2), 2. Kentucky Wesleyan (14-4), 3. Lake Erie (12-5), and 4. Thomas More (12-6). If you combine the total forced turnovers of both Kentucky Wesleyan and Thomas More, they still fall 11 short of Lake Erie's total (464 for the Storm vs. 453 between the Panthers and Saints).

Lake Erie's bench outscored Walsh's second unit 35-4. As expected, Walsh relied heavily on their starters, with the lowest-minute total among them still an eye-popping 33 minutes. Meanwhile, Coach Conley continues to use a deep rotation, with 10 different players logging at least 13 minutes. In fact, only three times all season has a Storm player eclipsed 30 minutes in a game—twice for Cameron Johnson and once for Jake Leibacher. The takeaway? The Storm bench runs deep, Conley trusts his guys, and the team benefits from the extra rest. Late in games, they have the energy and composure to close strong, while opponents are often running on fumes.

Despite having one of their better three-point shooting performances in a while (11/31, 35.5%), Lake Erie still controlled the paint, winning points in the paint 34-24. This might not seem like a standout shooting night, but considering they shot just 14/76 (18.4%) from deep over their last three games, we'll take it. More impressively, the Storm have been dominating the paint recently, outscoring their last three opponents 110-60 in that area. Before this stretch, they were merely average in the category (472-454 edge against G-MAC opponents). If they can carry this attack-the-rim mentality into the tournament, this squad's ceiling is sky-high.

One area of concern? Free throws. The Storm attempted just seven free throws—a season low—while sending Walsh to the line 24 times, their worst free throw disparity of the season. Last year, this was a massive issue, as their -172 free throw attempt margin was the worst in the conference by far. It was a "perfect storm" of failing to draw contact offensively while committing too many fouls defensively. Believe it or not, Lake Erie is actually fouling slightly more per game this season and again leads the G-MAC in opponent free throw attempts. However, they've drastically improved on the other end, averaging 4.5 more free throw attempts per game than they did in 2024.

The Matchup
 
With the win on Saturday afternoon, the Storm snap a nine-game losing streak in the series and move to 7-20 after their lone matchup of the season. 
 
Looking Ahead
 
Lake Erie will have a quick turnaround as they travel to Kentucky for their final road game of the season to face Kentucky Wesleyan on Monday, February 24th at 3:15 p.m. The Storm will look for the season sweep against the Panthers on the road after an 85-67 home victory on January 9th. Kentucky Wesleyan, the G-MAC preseason favorites, is currently second in the conference with a 20-6 overall record and 14-4 in the G-MAC, while also going 13-0 at home. 

Kentucky Wesleyan's Strengths:

• Scoring: 3rd in G-MAC (78.5 PPG)
• Offensive Efficiency: 2nd in G-MAC field goal percentage (48.4%)
• Defensive Efficiency: 3rd in G-MAC opponent field goal percentage (41.9%)
• Three Point Shooting: 1st in G-MAC (38.8%)
• Free Throw Shooting: 2nd in G-MAC (75.3%)
• Rebounding: 1st in G-MAC (38.4 RPG)

Kentucky Wesleyan's Weaknesses:

• Defensive Pressure: 10th in G-MAC in steals per game (5.4)
• Turnover Margin: 9th in G-MAC (-1.0)

Kentucky Wesleyan primarily operates with a seven- to eight-man rotation. 6'7" starter Fatih Huyuk has missed the last three games due to injury.

Key Players:

• 6'5" Jr. Logan McIntire – 14.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.9 APG
• 6'5" Sr. Edward Jones Jr. – 13.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.8 APG
• 6'1" Fifth Year Kennedy Miles – 12.9 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 4.5 APG
• 6'2" Jr. Quentin Toles – 12.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 3.0 APG
• 6'7" Jr. Fatih Huyuk – 8.7 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.8 APG (injured last three games)
• 6'3" Fifth Year Alex Gray – 7.2 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 2.9 APG
• 6'6" Jr. Terrence Ringo Jr. – 7.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG
• 6'3" Fifth Year Kaeveon Mitchell – 2.8 PPG, 1.4 RPG