CEDARVILLE, Ohio -- The Lake Erie men's basketball team battled Cedarville on Thursday afternoon in their final regular-season road game, walking away with a 63-62 win. It was yet another slow road start for the conference-best Storm offense, as they trailed 31-28 by halftime. However, they picked it up in the second half, got incredibly timely stops, and ultimately did enough to earn a win against a talented Yellow Jackets team.
With the win, Lake Erie reaches 20 wins for the first time since the 25-3 2006-07 team. Sitting at 20-7 overall and 14-5 against conference opponents, the Storm are peaking at the perfect time as they head into the G-MAC Tournament next week.
Game Recap
Lake Erie took an early 4-0 lead but suddenly trailed 12-6 just minutes later. A 16-16 tie after nine minutes of action then became 26-18 Yellow Jackets, as Cedarville built an eight-point advantage, their biggest lead of the game. The Storm settled back in, closing the half strong on the defensive end and cutting their deficit to three by the break.
The Storm were abnormally careless with the ball in the first half, turning it over 11 times, surpassing their total from the previous four full games. This mark also matched their number of field goals in the period, finishing 11/28 (39.3%). This was very similar to their start against Cedarville four weeks ago in Painesville, when the Storm led 29-25 at the break after going just 9/30 from the field before exploding for 61 points in the second half. While the defense created 12 turnovers, including five steals from Rokas Castillo alone, the offense was going to need to find easier looks if they wanted to earn a road victory against a talented Yellow Jackets squad.
After starting the second half 0/3 and allowing an easy fast-break layup, Coach Conley quickly pulled the starters, inserting the second unit with the Storm trailing 33-29. Over the next 3½ minutes, this unit exploded for 11 points, as Gio Moore had three straight buckets along with five points from Gavin Welch, giving Lake Erie its first lead since the opening minute of play. The Yellow Jackets responded, knotting the game at 45-apiece with 12 minutes remaining, and a Jake Leibacher layup reclaimed a Storm lead.
With 4:55 remaining, Lake Erie held a 58-53 lead but went scoreless for over two minutes in crunch time before another Jake Leibacher three-pointer put them up 61-57 with 2:37 left. Kai Bloom followed with a jumper of his own, putting the Storm on top 63-59 with 2:06 remaining. From there, Lake Erie went scoreless, going 0/1 from the field, 0/2 on one-and-one free throws, and committing one turnover. It wasn't pretty, but the defense held up. Gio Moore had a huge block with seven seconds remaining, and Jake Leibacher had a steal off a last-second inbounds pass to seal the game.
Analysis
On the road against G-MAC opponents in the first half of games, Lake Erie finishes the season averaging 37.4 points per game on 39.6% shooting from the field and 30.6% from deep. Compare this to 42.1 points per game at home on 44.5% shooting and 35.6% from deep, and it's clear that home-court advantage is truly felt. This factor should play a huge part in their opening G-MAC playoff game in Painesville.
Typically, the Storm have relied on their offense to win shootouts against talented teams, but tonight it was the defense that really stepped up. Despite ranking near the bottom of the conference in points allowed and opponent field-goal percentage, Lake Erie found answers against a Yellow Jackets team boasting three of the top 11 scorers in the conference. Cedarville coughed up a season-high 21 turnovers and made just three triples, tying their fewest of the year. Additionally, 62 points marks their second fewest of the season and more than 15 points below their average.
Lake Erie won this game despite many glaring negatives. They had seven more turnovers than assists, their worst mark of the year. From deep, converting 5/25 threes tied their fewest makes in a game and marked their worst percentage (20%). They lost both the points-in-the-paint battle and fast-break points by double digits.
Gavin Welch led the team in scoring with 13 points, the second-lowest leading scoring performance for Lake Erie all year. Everyone had a tough time producing against the Yellow Jackets defense.
Storm starters collectively had their worst game as a unit, scoring just 29 points and combining for 12 turnovers. This resulted in every player on the second unit logging more minutes than the starters. This group was more efficient from every area of the floor and, more importantly, avoided turnovers somewhat better.
Looking Ahead
Saturday, February 28th is the final regular-season game for the Storm, as they return home for the first time in over two weeks to battle the Panthers from Ohio Dominican. ODU got the better of Lake Erie the first time around, winning 87-69 in Columbus. Winners of their last six games, including an overtime victory against Malone on Thursday, the Panthers will not be an easy task and may provide an early preview of a strong matchup in the G-MAC Tournament next week.
In the earlier game against ODU, Amari Williams had a Storm season-high 29 points on 9/19 shooting and 5/13 from deep. Everyone else, however, had a rough outing, including just 19 bench points on 9/31 shooting (22.6%). The free-throw line was another major detriment for the Storm, as Lake Erie went just 14/23 while the Panthers went 22/26. Additionally, the road team caught fire from downtown, going 6/9 from deep in a 52-point second half.
Across the board, Ohio Dominican is one of the best teams in the conference. They rank top three in points allowed per game, scoring margin, three-point percentage, opponent three-point percentage, rebounding margin, assist-to-turnover ratio, and assists. There aren't many cracks in this opponent.
The Panthers boast two of the top players in the conference in 6'4 sophomore Derek Goodman (5th-leading scorer at 16.4 per game) and 6'7 redshirt senior Elijah Hinton (9th-leading scorer at 15.2 per game). Hinton is also 6th in rebounding (6.8) and 6th in field-goal percentage (54.5), while Goodman ranks 3rd in three-pointers made (47), 3rd in three-point percentage (42.3), 9th in field-goal percentage (50.0), 13th in assists (2.4), 16th in steals (1.2), and 1st in minutes played (35.6 per game).
