HONOLULU - The Lake Erie College men's basketball team held a nine-point half-time advantage, but couldn't make it stand up as the University Tampa of Spartans pulled away for 107-93 win on Saturday night in the second game of the Hoops in Hawaii Classic.
Lake Erie had four players reach double figures, led by Gio Moore with 17 points. Caelum Ethridge and Riley Cervenka added 15 points apiece, while Griffin Turay contributed 12 points off the bench.
The Storm came out strong in the first half, overcoming an early deficit and finding their rhythm offensively. A triple from Moore tied it at 27-27 at the midway point of the session and after Tampa briefly regained the lead, the Storm would rally, going out in front for the first time on an Alanas Castillo fastbreak layup that made it 41-40 with 5:34 left on the clock.Â
The Storm would extend their cushion from that point, using a 13-1 run over the next three minutes to claim a 54-41 advantage with 2:28 remaining in the half before ultimately setting for a 58-49 lead at the break.Â
Unfortunately, the Storm came out of the locker room ice cold following the restart as the Spartans orchestrated a 23-2 scoring barrage over the first six-and-half minutes of the period to grab a 72-60 lead of their own. A Jamyier Patton triple-hit at the 12:56 mark would momentarily stop the bleeding, but Lake Erie failed to really threaten the final outcome, getting no closer than eight points the rest of the way.Â
Tampa shot 70.4 percent (19-of-27) from the field and 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from beyond the arc in the second half, while the Storm finished the period 10-of-35 shooting for a 28.6 percent clip.Â
Both teams combined to take 71 free throws with LEC cashing in 28-of-39 for a 72-percent clip, while Tampa connected on just 25 of its 42 attempts for a 59.5 percent success rate.
The Storm will conclude its Hawaiian adventure later today against Hawaii Pacific University with tip-time set for 5:45 p.m. HT / 11:45 p.m. ET.
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