PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- The Lake Erie College men's basketball team wrapped up their regular season against Ohio Dominican on Saturday afternoon, winning a tight battle 87-86. With both teams tied at 50-apiece at the break, Senior Night was shaping up to be a thriller, and it delivered. Gio Moore hit some clutch threes down the stretch, and a Jake Leibacher bucket with 11 seconds left helped retake the lead in dramatic fashion. The Panthers were able to fire off a last-second shot that would have won the game, but the jumper was off, and the Storm captured the intense victory.
On Thursday, the combination of Lake Erie's win over Cedarville and Ashland's loss to Walsh meant the Storm clinched the No. 2 seed. With a wild Saturday of six G-MAC games concluded, Kentucky Wesleyan emerged as the No. 7 seed, meaning the Panthers will head to Painesville for the first Lake Erie home G-MAC Quarterfinal game in program history.
The win marks the ninth straight victory for LEC and improves their record to 21-7, their best finish since the 2006-07 campaign. Going 15-5 in conference matchups is a huge testament to this hungry Storm squad's ability, as it eyes a potential berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Game Recap
The Storm narrowly led for the majority of the first half, at one point by as many as six points, and with just 1:30 left before the break were up 47-42. The Panthers, however, scored the next eight points, suddenly looking like they would enter halftime with momentum. However, a beautiful late possession by Lake Erie resulted in a clean Jake Leibacher three-pointer to put the teams in a 50-50 deadlock at the break.
The largest point margin in the second half was even slimmer than the first, with Lake Erie going up by five at its peak as both sides traded buckets in a tightly contested stretch. With five minutes remaining, Lake Erie held a 77-76 lead before Gio Moore turned it up. The 6'6 junior was 0-for-5 from deep but trusted his shot and buried two huge triples, along with a layup, all within a three-minute span to give the Storm an 85-80 lead with 2:08 remaining.
However, Lake Erie would miss its next four field goals while also allowing ODU to run in transition, and in the blink of an eye, with 24 seconds remaining Coach Conley burned a timeout with his team down 86-85. Putting the ball in Amari Williams' hands, he faced pressure and dished it off to Jake Leibacher, who used a mix of strength and craft to get to the rack for a tough layup, swinging the lead back in Lake Erie's favor.
Ohio Dominican then used both of their final timeouts to draw up a favorable look, which resulted in a tough fadeaway baseline jumper that hit only iron, no net, as Lake Erie escaped in front of a huge Senior Day crowd with a monumental victory.
Analysis
There were 15 lead changes throughout the game, and the largest lead for either side was six points. After losing by 18 in Columbus to the Panthers, the Storm got their revenge tonight and earned it.
Lake Erie had 52 bench points compared to just 24 from ODU. Seven different players scored eight or more points. This scoring variety makes Lake Erie so dangerous, as although teams can sometimes scheme for certain players, the entire roster from top to bottom is capable of reaching double digits in this system.
Amari Williams dished out seven of Lake Erie's 18 assists. While teams have started to load up on the junior transfer defensively, Amari still has the biggest presence in the Storm offense and continues to find ways to get it done, scoring 14 points without attempting a single free throw.
Athletic-freak Kai Bloom went 8-for-12 from the field for a team-high 20 points and five boards. The redshirt sophomore is the most dangerous weapon Lake Erie poses in transition, and his timely cuts in the halfcourt are a key component of the high-level offense LEC has delivered this season.
Jake Leibacher, while not as explosive, offers the effect of a coach on the court. The 6'2 senior is perhaps the most trusted player on the roster, as he is incredibly active on defense, limits mistakes, and wins extra possessions by being a menace on the boards. Always within the flow of Conley's system, Leibacher went 5-for-7 tonight, including two steals and the game-winning layup with 11 seconds remaining.
While they struggled as a team, senior Trace Bishko went 3-for-3 from deep to score nine points, providing an efficient scoring burst off the bench. Bishko is having the best season of his four-year career at Lake Erie, making 46 threes on an excellent 37.7% clip while boasting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.41. The 5'11 guard out of Brush is exactly the type of backup point guard that Lake Erie has needed this season.
Lake Erie survived a first half where ODU went 14-for-23 from the field (60.9%), 7-for-10 from deep (70%), and took 21 free throws, making 15. All three figures far exceeded the output of the Storm. However, Lake Erie's pressure forced 10 turnovers, limiting the number of possessions that ended in those high-percentage shots. Finishing with 18 turnovers, this marks the second-worst performance in that category for the Panthers all season.
While the Storm finally hit double-digit threes for the first time in five games, tonight marked their sixth straight performance shooting below their season average. They will look to get back on track from deep in the G-MAC Tournament.
Tonight was the lowest rebounding effort for the Storm all season, grabbing just 22 boards to ODU's 32.
ODU attempted their most free throws of the season tonight and made their most as well, going 25-for-32 from the stripe (78.1%), well above their season average of 71.4%.
Looking Ahead
The Storm will host a G-MAC Quarterfinal game on Tuesday, March 3rd at 7 PM against No. 7-seeded Kentucky Wesleyan. After winning a crucial game today against Thomas More 82-75, the Panthers earn the trip to Painesville to take on the red-hot Storm. Earlier this year, Lake Erie bested them 82-77 at home in an incredibly foul-heavy game with 50 total fouls.
In that game, Gio Moore attempted 21 shots for a team-high 22 points, a huge abnormality compared to his average of 8.2 shots per game aside from that one outing. Lake Erie trailed 47-37 in the second half before mounting a strong comeback fueled by timely threes from Moore and tough makes from Amari.
Despite being the worst free-throw shooting team in the conference (64.6%), KWC loves taking threes, attempting them at the third-highest rate in the G-MAC and converting at a much stronger clip, ranking fourth at 34.8%.
The Panthers have two of the top ten three-point shooters in the conference in Armandas Plintauskas (66 made, 35.3%) and Lavonte Harris (54 made, 40.6%). Senior center Fatih Huyuk ranks 15th in scoring, 7th in rebounding, 5th in field goal percentage, and top-30 in assists and minutes. Junior guard Jorge Sanchez-Ramos led the G-MAC in assists with 147 this season, a ridiculous 5.3 per game.
If Lake Erie defeats Kentucky Wesleyan on Tuesday, the Storm will advance to face the winner of No. 3 Ashland and No. 6 Northwood in the G-MAC Semifinals. Should Lake Erie win and No. 1 Walsh lose to Hillsdale in the quarterfinals, the Storm would host the G-MAC Semifinals on Friday, March 6, and the Championship game on Saturday, March 7. If Walsh wins, being the highest remaining seed after the quarterfinals, the Cavaliers would host the remainder of the tournament.
