PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- The Lake Erie men's basketball team battled the 8-5 Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers on Monday afternoon, earning a hard-fought 82-77 victory. After trailing for nearly the entire first half, the Storm kept it close throughout and slowly wore the Panthers down after halftime in a very physical, foul-heavy contest.
The win marks four in a row for the Storm, as they improve to 9-4 on the season and 3-2 against G-MAC opponents, good for a tie for fifth place in the conference standings.
Game Recap
Both teams struggled early to generate consistent offense, as the game's first points did not come until over three minutes in, courtesy of the Lake Erie second unit following a stretch of back-and-forth action. When the starters re-entered, they inherited a 9-8 deficit, and the Storm would remain behind until five minutes had elapsed in the second half, as the Panthers largely controlled the game's tempo and physicality.
With under two minutes remaining before halftime, Lake Erie trailed 36-26 in what was shaping up to be its toughest offensive half of the season. However, the Storm closed strong, trimming the Kentucky Wesleyan lead to just four at the break after ending the half on an 8-1 run.
It briefly worsened before it improved after halftime, as the Panthers quickly rebuilt a double-digit advantage. That 47-37 deficit soon turned into a 47-all tie, as Caelum Ethridge, Aidan Filippini, and Trace Bishko injected energy into the lineup and knocked down tough shots on the offensive end. For the next ten minutes, the game became a seesaw affair, with both teams trading leads and neither able to create a two-possession cushion.
Kentucky Wesleyan eventually pushed ahead by six with six minutes remaining, appearing to have found some separation, but Gio Moore proved instrumental down the stretch. Staying aggressive and hunting favorable matchups, Moore buried several timely three-pointers and got to the charity stripe to keep the Storm within striking distance. Tied at 70-70 with 4:40 left, Moore and Amari Williams combined to score the final 12 points for Lake Erie, while the team defense locked in to secure multiple clutch stops and seal the victory.
Analysis
Lake Erie's bench played a decisive role, as the second unit proved to be the difference throughout the night. Not only did the Storm outscore the Panthers' bench 39-12, but they consistently won their minutes on the floor, including heavy stretches against the Wesleyan starters. The bench forced six of the team's 10 steals, accounted for 11 of the Storm's 18 assists while committing just five turnovers, and shot 7-for-19 from beyond the arc, compared to the starters' 4-for-22 mark. The stretch from 17:36 to 15:00 in the second half, during which Lake Erie went +10, was directly responsible for the outcome.
The Storm continue to defend at an elite level. Over the past five games, opponents are shooting just 16-for-62 from three-point range, a 25.8 percent clip. Sixteen made threes across five games is the fewest Lake Erie has allowed in at least 17 seasons, dating back to the 2008-09 campaign, the earliest year with available online statistics.
Physicality defined the evening, as the teams combined for 50 total fouls. Only twice in the past nine seasons has Lake Erie participated in a game with more whistles.
The Matchup
With the win, Lake Erie improves to 6-11 all-time against Kentucky Wesleyan. After splitting the season series in each of the past two seasons, the Storm claim the 2025-26 matchup with Monday's victory.
Looking Ahead
The Storm remain at home for their next contest, welcoming the Ashland Eagles. Picked by league coaches to finish second in the G-MAC, Ashland enters the matchup at 10-4 overall and is coming off a wild double-overtime victory against Findlay, the preseason conference favorite, which now sits at 3-3 in G-MAC play.
The Eagles are led by Maceo Williams, last season's G-MAC Player of the Year. Williams currently leads the conference in scoring at 18.6 points per game and rebounding at 8.1 boards per contest, while ranking second in field-goal percentage at 59.0 percent.
Ashland also boasts the conference's assist leader in Jordan Edwards. The redshirt sophomore has tallied 90 assists on the season, a staggering 34 more than the next-highest total in the G-MAC.
Redshirt junior Davis Cooper logs the most minutes per game in the conference, averaging about 33 per night. He has also been one of Ashland's few consistent perimeter threats, accounting for 30 of the Eagles' 80 made three-pointers, the second-fewest total in the league.
Shot-blocking has been another area of struggle for Ashland, as the Eagles rank last in the conference with 21 blocks, just behind Lake Erie. For comparison, Tiffin leads the G-MAC by a wide margin with 67 blocks this season.
