The Lakelnd men's basketball team played host to the Owens Community College Express tonight and came away with an 84-75 victory. With the win, the Lakers record improves to 21-5 overall and 13-2 in conference play. The Lakers took an early lead on the Express and never looked back. Owens opened the scoring by hitting a jumper to start the game. Zach Wartley quickly answered with a 3-pointer to give the Lakers the 3-2 lead. After an Owens turnover, Elhadji Thiam would score a layup on a pass from Jaidon Lipscomb. After an Owens traveling call, Lipscomb would sink a 3-pointer on a pass from Landon Tillman to give the Lakers an 8-2 lead. The teams would trade baskets before Lipscomb would score an old-fashioned 3-point play by scoring the basket and getting the free throw for a 15-7 Laker lead. After an Express basket, Wartley would connect on another 3-pointer on a pass from Thiam to extend the lead to 18-9. The Lakers would go cold on a couple of possessions allowing the Express to climb back into the game and trail 20-16. Landon Tillman would then sink a 15-footer off the dribble to extend the Laker lead to 22-16. After an Owens miss, the Lakers would break out as Jaidon Lipscomb grabbed the rebound and fed Jaden Woods. Woods would take the ball down the court and stay wide before hitting Lipscomb with a pass as he cut to the basket for a layup and a 24-16 lead. After an Owens turnover, it was Tillman's turn for a 3-point play as he also scored the basket and then added a free throw. The Express would score on their next possession before Jaden Woods would would hit a 6-foot floater off of a long rebound to give the Lakers a 29-18 lead. After an Owens 3-pointer, Chris Tackett would put the lead back to 10 on a layup with 8 minutes to play in the half. After an Express turnover, Tillman connected on 2 free throws. On the Express's next possession, Jaidon Lipscomb would steal the ball and score on a layup to increase the Laker lead to 35-21. Owens would sink another 3-pointer before Lipscomb answered back with an NBA range 3-pointer on a pass from Tillman. Owens would turn the ball over on their next possession and Elhadji Thiam would convert for the Lakers and give the home team a 40-24 lead. The Express would score on their next possession and Lipscomb would drain another 3-pointer on a Thiam kickout. The teams would then trade baskets and the Lakers would go in to the break with a 45-30 advantage.
To start the second half, the Express would score and the Lakers Elhadji Thiam would answer on a lob pass from Tillman. After an Express turnover, Zach Wartley would go end to end and lay in a 3-footer to increase the Laker lead to 49-32. The Express would connect on a 3-pointer and again, the Lakers would answer back. This time, Landon Tillman drained the 3-pointer for a 52-35 lead. After an Express free throw, Tillman would grab a rebound and hit Lipscomb on a long pass for a thunderous dunk. On the next Express possession, Elhadji Thiam would steal the ball and dribble the length of the court and finished with a dunk of his own and a commanding 56-36 Laker lead. From there, the Lakers put it in cruise control and sailed to the victory.
Every Laker scored in the game tonight. Additionally, the Lakers had four players finish in double digits. Jaidon Lipscomb was the high scorer with 24 points. Landon Tillman and Elhadji Thiam each finished with 16 points while Jaden Woods picked ip 11 points in the Laker win. Zach Wartley finished with 8 points for the Lakers.
Coming into the game, Jaidon Lipscomb needed 17 points to break 1000 points as a Laker. Congratulations to Jaidon on breaking the mark!!
T's Thoughts: "I was happy we got the win, but it wasn't our best game. We have had a tough stretch lately and coming off a long trip on Saturday - this was a quick turnaround and we were able to respond. Owens played hard - a lot of credit to them in the effort. Eveyone scored which was nice and we got out of the game healthy. We will look to turn our game up some as we have another tough road test this weekend."
Next Up: The Lakers travel to Edison State on Saturday (2/25) to face the Chargers. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 pm.
