The Lakeland men's basketball team hosted Terra State tonight and came away with a hard fought 85-79 win over the Titans. With the victory, the Lakers record improves to 7-2 (2-0 in the OCCAC). In a tightly played first half, the Lakers led throughout. Lakeland led by as many as 9 points in the opening period when they took a 3 point edge and expanded it quickly on a Jevon France layup and two buckets from Jaidon Lipscomb. The two teams continued to battle and the Titans were able to close the gap. Lakeland had a couple of turnovers and ill-timed shots that were coupled with the Titans hitting 3 point shots. The change in momentum shrank the Lakers lead to 43-41 going into the break.
The 2nd half was a back and forth affair with both teams holding at least a 4 point lead at different points. With 4 minutes to play and the Lakers trailing 76-72, Jevon France hit a big 3-pointer to close the gap to 76-75. The Lakers would start to pick up their defensive pressure and force the Titans into uncomfortable shots. After a Terra State miss, France would get fouled while driving the lane and hit on 1-2 free throws to tie the score at 76. On the Titans next possession, France would pick the Titans guard clean and race to the other end scoring a layup to give the Lakers a 78-76 edge. After a Titan missed shot, the Lakers used the clock before Dondi Harper Jr. sank a 3-pointer in the corner on a great pass from Landon Tillman to extend the lead to 81-76. Following another Titan miss, Tillman was fouled and sank both free throws to give the Lakers an 83-76 advantage. Both teams then missed free throws and opportunities on their next posessions. With under a minute to play, there were two outstanding Laker plays. The first occurred when a Titan player was driving the lane. As he was gong up for a sure layup, Elhadji Thiam came from nowhere and blocked the shot to Jaidon Lipscomb. Lipscomb was fouled and sank 1-2 free throws. Terra State would then hit a 3-pointer to close the gap to 84-79 with 26.4 seonds to play. Following a Lakers timeout, Lakeland inbounded the ball with a baseball pass the length of the court. The pass was long and as it was gong out of bounds Thiam made a leaping effort to toss the ball back in play as he sailed out of bounds. Again the ball went to Lipscomb where he fouled. He then connected on 1-2 free throws to ice the game.
Jaidon Lipscomb finished as the Lakers leading scorer with 21 points while Jevon France had a strong night pouring in 20 points for the Lakers. Landon Tillman continued his solid play scoring 12 points while Elhadji Thiam finished his night with 9 points. Jaden Woods finished with 8 points and Chris Tackett added 7 points to help key the win.
T's Thoughts: "We didn't play our best game, but still found a way to win. We were a bit sluggish throughout. We have to give credit to Terra as they fought hard throughout this game. We have to put this one behind us now and get ready for a challenging weekend."
Next Up: The Lakers will travel to Niagara County Community College this weekend to participate in the Thunderwolves holiday tournament. On Saturday, the Lakers will face off against Monroe Community College at 3:00 pm and then play host Niagara County on Sunday at 5:00 pm.
