The Lakeland Lakers men's basketball team played the Milwaukee Area Technical Stormers today in the NJCAA DII National basketball tournament in Danville, IL. The Lakers were not to be denied as they rolled to a 101-80 victory to improve their overall record to 25-2. With the win, the Lakers advanced to the 5th/6th place game tomorrow and play Henry Ford CC (MI) at 3:00pm EST. The game was a back and forth affair early on as both teams went on small rolls to keep it close. For the Lakers, they would take a small lead only to see the Stormers answer back and keep the game close for the first 9 minutes of the game. Early in the 1st half, Jaidon Lipscomb hit a 3-pointer to give the Lakers an early 7-4 lead only to see the Stormers hit the next bucket to pull it within a point. Chaze Harris (2 scores), Kyle Jackson, and Noah Berry then made consecutive buckets to give the Lakers a 15-6 lead only to see Milwaukee Tech fight right back. Finally, with the score tied at 19, Lipscomb would convert again; but this time the Lakers would grow the lead and not relinquish it. Lakeland turned up its defense and forced a few turnovers and the Stormers went cold shooting. Lakeland continued to convert and went into the half with a commanding 58-38 lead. The key to the half was Jaidon Lipscomb scoring 26 points on 10-15 shooting from the floor (including 2 3-pointers) while also shooting a perfect 4-4 from the line. Kyle Jackson also played a strong first half scoring 11 points and grabbing 5 rebounds. Chaze Harris would finish the half with 8 points and 4 rebounds.

The second half was more of the same as the Stormers would try to take a run at Lakeland, but the Lakers would always have the answer. At one point the Stormers were able to cut the lead to 12, but again, Lakeland would answer right back and grow the lead to a comfortable 17-20 points and keep it that way for much of the half. Jaidon Lipscomb finished with 31 points on 12-18 shooting while Chaze Harris scored 22 points on 7-12 shooting and a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe. Harris also added 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks. Kyle Jackson finished the game with 11 points and 5 rebounds. Noah Berry and JR Lumsden each finished with 8 points in the win. Berry also added 2 blocked shots. As a team, Lakeland shot a blistering 90% (18-20) from the free throw line while blocking 9 shots as a team.

Next Up: The Lakers will play Henry Ford College (MI) on Saturday at 3:00 pm EST. The winner will finish the tournament in 5th place while the losing team will finish in 6th place.