The Lakeland men's basketball team, currently ranked 7th nationally in NJCAA DII basketball, played host to the Edison State Chargers and came away with a convincing 90-69 win. With the victory, the Lakers improve to 16-3 overall and 9-0 in OCCAC play. The Lakers started out on fire and took a commanding 20-3 lead just 6 minutes into the game. Lakeland was determined to use their inside game to take advantage of the Chargers and they worked it to perfection. Whenever the Chargers collapsed on the Lakers post players, they would kick it out and Lakeland would bury an open outside shot. Chris Tackett and Elhadji Thiam controlled the inside play early while Zach Wartley and Jaidon Lipscomb took care of the perimeter play. After that start, the Lakers seemed to relax some and Edison State picked up their energy level. The Chargers started to hit shots and battled back to within 10 at the break, 46-36. For the first 10 minutes of the second half, the teams would trade baskets until the score was 70-57 with 7:22 to play. With the Lakers on offense, Jaden Woods would grab an offensive rebound and feed Wartley for a layup. After a Charger miss, Lipscomb would feed Thiam for a basket and a 74-57 Laker lead. The Lakers would then force a Charger turnover and Woods would assist on a Lipscomb basket. After another Edison miss, Jaidon Lipscomb would drive the lane, get fouled, and make the lay-up and free throw for a commanding 79-57 Laker lead with 4:25 to play. From there, the Lakers would cruise to the final victory.
Every Laker scored in this game and four finished in double figures. Leading the way was Jaidon Lipscomb who finished with 23 points. Jaden Woods added 16 points while Zach Wartley recorded 15 points for the Lakers. Elhadji Thiam finished with 14 points on the night. Chris Tackett scored 8 points while Landon Tillman chipped in 7 points in the Laker win.
T's Thoughts: "We started out playing hard and working our game plan, but then Edison really picked up their play. Edison's effort was real good and it put us on our heels a little bit. Fortunately, we were able to regroup at halftime and pick our play back up in the second half. We played pretty well overall, especially in the paint. This was a good total team effort."
Next Up: The Lakers travel to Fremont on Wednesday (2/1) to face the Tartans of Terra State. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 7:30 pm.
