MIDLAND, Ohio -- The Lake Erie men's basketball team played the Northwood Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon in an incredibly evenly matched game. Behind a record-setting shooting night from Gavin Welch, the second half turned into a back-and-forth battle defined by constant lead changes and a 25-point outburst from a Northwood guard. Regulation wasn't enough to decide it, as clutch free throws from Jake Leibacher sent the contest into overtime, where the Timberwolves struck first and never relinquished the lead.

In the loss, the Storm move to 11-6 overall and 5-4 in conference play, currently good for 6th-place in the G-MAC standings.

Game Recap

The Storm largely had control of the game in the first half, as they held a lead for 16:09 straight of the opening 20 minutes. At multiple moments, Lake Erie led by eight points, but the Timberwolves kept clawing their way back, never letting the deficit reach double digits. With five minutes left before the halftime break, the Storm led 35-27, then the game completely flipped on its head. Lake Erie managed just two points as they limped into halftime on a 14-2 Northwood run, putting the home team on top 41-37.

The second half was absolute cinema, featuring 13 lead changes and 10 ties, the latter of which crucially came as the final buzzer sounded. Here's how the final 3:30 of regulation played out:

• Gavin Welch hits a three-pointer to cut the Storm deficit to 79-78
• Northwood responds with a three-pointer of their own (Will Young II), going back up 82-78
• Another Gavin Welch three-pointer, 82-81 Northwood
• Northwood misses a jumper
• Two made Jake Leibacher free throws, LEC up 83-82
• Northwood three-pointer is good (Will Young again), Timberwolves retake the lead 85-83
• Two more Jake Leibacher free throws are good, tie game 85-85
• Northwood hits a pair of free throws themselves, taking an 87-85 advantage
• Amari Williams hits a three-pointer for the Storm, 88-87 LEC lead
• With 1:04 left, Will Young splits a pair at the line for Northwood, we're all tied up at 88-apiece
• Missed jumper for the Storm
• Will Young gets sent to the line, makes both from the charity stripe, 90-88 Northwood with 11 seconds left
• Jake Leibacher draws a foul with six seconds remaining, gets sent to the line, hits both massive shots
• The Timberwolves aren't able to attempt a shot after the timeout — overtime

Overtime featured more drama, as despite Northwood scoring on the opening possession and never relinquishing the lead, the Storm were right there throughout. Amari Williams hit an insane three-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to pull Lake Erie within two with nine seconds left, but unfortunately the Storm were forced to foul and send easily the best free-throw shooting team in the conference to the line. Northwood drilled both attempts, making it a four-point game and sealing the deal.

Analysis

Gavin Welch went an unbelievable 8/9 from deep, scoring all 24 of his points from beyond the arc. This breaks the Storm record for most threes made in a game, a feat Welch had previously tied earlier this season when he went 7/9 in a blowout win over Mansfield.

As a team, the Storm arguably had their best shooting performance of the season, going 19/43 (44.2%) from three. Over the last two seasons, Lake Erie is now 10-2 in games where they eclipse the 40% mark from beyond the arc.

Defensively, the Storm are usually phenomenal at not letting one person beat them. However, after not allowing an opposing 30-point scorer all season, this is now back-to-back games where someone has reached that mark against Lake Erie. Northwood poses a difficult matchup for every opponent, as they have three of the top six scorers in the conference, all of whom have already reached this figure this year. Tonight, it was the 6'4 senior guard Will Young II, who scored 25 points in the second half alone and 30 points overall. He ranks third in the conference in scoring, averaging 18.0 points per contest.

Not only did the Storm get to the free-throw line at a low rate (just 16 attempts compared to their season average of over 21), but they were also very handsy defensively, sending Northwood to a new season-high of 34 free-throw attempts. This -18 margin marks the largest discrepancy in G-MAC play this season for Lake Erie.

The Storm were uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball, committing 16 turnovers. That matches their total from the previous two games combined and is their highest against a conference opponent this season. They typically win close games because of their elite turnover margin (conference-best +6.76), but tonight they were just +2.

Looking Ahead

The Storm are slated for the final game of a brutally difficult four-game road stretch when they travel to Ashland on Thursday, January 22nd at 7:30 p.m. Earlier this season, Lake Erie got the better of the Eagles by a score of 100-86 in a game where, at one point, the scoreboard read 91-63 (+28) in favor of the Storm.

What worked the first time around:
Production from everyone – nine different players scored, six reached double figures, and nobody scored more than 16
Three-pointers – 14/31 for the Storm (a season-high 45.2%) compared to 4/15 for Ashland
Turnovers – the Eagles committed 19 turnovers, which still stands as tied for their season high
Rebounding – Ashland finished with 31 rebounds compared to their average of 36, including a season-low 20 defensive boards. Mateo Williams, the conference leader in this category, finished with just one