The Lakers men's basketball team played host to the Triceratops of Cuyahoga Community College tonight in OCCAC play. Lakeland would use a balanced attack to take down the Triceratops by a final score of 97-54. With the win, the Lakers improve to 14-3 overall and 7-0 in conference play. This game was a battle early as both teams were extremely physical to try and gain an edge. With the Lakers trailing 23-20, Jaidon Lipscomb would hit a 3-pointer on an assist from Chris Tackett to knot the score at 23. After a Cuyahoga miss, Lipscomb would then get fouled on a 3-point attempt and calmly step to the line and hit all 3 free throws for a 26-23 Laker lead. After another Cuyahoga miss, Jaden Woods would feed Lipscomb for another basket. After a Laker steal, Woods would get fouled and sink both free throws. On the next possession, Cuyahoga would miss a shot and Lipscomb would get fouled and hit both free throws. Landon Tillman would then steal the ball and get fouled as he drove the lane. Tillman would connect on both free throws to give the Lakers a double digit 34-23 lead in under a 4 minute span. Lakeland would continue their effort and go into the break with a 45-31 lead.
The Triceratops would battle back early in the second half and cut their deficit to 6 at 49-43. Landon Tillman answered that run by hitting a 3-pointer to push the Laker advantage back to 52-43. Cuyahoga would then make consecutive baskets to cut the Laker lead to 5 at 52-47. This time, Jaden Woods would answer on a driving layup. After a Cuyahoga miss, Lipscomb was fouled and he connected on both free throws for a 56-47 Laker lead. After a Tri-C basket, Zach Wartley hit a big 3-pointer in the corner on an assist from Lipscomb. Cuyahoga would then miss their next shot and Chris Tackett would score on a pass from Elhadji Thiam. On the play, Cuyahoga was also charged with flopping and the Lakers would hit the free throw to give them a 62-49 lead. Cuyahoga would then miss their next shot. Tackett's rebound would feed Lipscomb who dished to Wartley for another quick Laker basket. On the next possession, Tri-C would turn the ball over and Lipscomb would feed Chris Tackett for a thunderous dunk and a commanding 66-49 lead. From there, the Lakers continued to pad their lead as they hit three pointers and scored on transition baskets. The games final basket came on a an impressive dunk from Brandon Lane on a pass from Dondi Harper II.
Every Lakeland player scored at least one basket and the Lakers finished with 4 players scoring in double figures. Jaidon Lipscomb led the way with 31 points for the Lakers. Landon Tillman finished his night with 18 points. Zach Wartley scored 15 points for the Lakers while Jaden Woods added 10 points in the Laker win. Elhadji Thiam and Chris Tackett each scored 9 points in the contest.
T's Thoughts: "We finally followed our game plan from the beginning to the end of the game. We played strong defense and shared the ball extremely well. I was happy they all scored. They all have been practicing hard and it was good to see the fruits of their labor pay off. Tip your hat to Cuyahoga - they played extremely hard. It was a good game by both teams."
Next Up: On Saturday (1/21), the Lakers will travel to Owens Community College to face the Express. The tipoff is scheduled for 1:00pm. In a twist to the schedule, the Lakers will then host the Express next Wednesday (1/25) in a 7:30 pm game.
