The Lakeland Lakers traveled to Mott Community College today to take on the Bears in the Great Lakes District A semi-finals. Lakeland played well in spurts, but unfortunately, not consistently enough to gain the win. The Lakers fell to the Bears by a score of 82-67 to finish their season with an overall record of 22-6. In the first half, Lakeland jumped out to a 5-0 lead on an Elhadji Thiam jump shot and Jaidon Lipscomb 3-pointer. After a Mott basket, Zach Wartley nailed a 3-pointer to give the Lakers an 8-2 advantage. The Bears would take advantage of some Lakers missed shots to narrow the gap to 8-6 before Thiam hit 1-2 free throws to grow the lead back to 3 points. After a Mott miss, Brandon Lane converted on a tip-in after an offensive rebound to give the Lakers an 11-6 lead. Lakeland would go cold again and the Bears would take the lead 13-11. Lipscomb would sink another 3-pointer to regain the Lakers lead at 14-13. After a Bears 3-pointer, Lipscomb would connect on two free throws to knot the score at 16 with 11 minutes to play in the half. After a Mott foul, Lipscomb would sink an 8' jumper to regain the Lakers lead at 18-16. Both teams would trade some baskets and misses until Mott had regained the lead at 25-21. Jaden Woods would then hit a driving layuup to cut the Mott lead to 25-23 with 5:20 to play in the half. Lakeland then went cold and missed several shots and committed turnovers. The Bears were able to capitalize and went into the break with a 37-28 lead.

The Lakers would not quit as they came out firing in the second half. Jaidon Lipscomb continued to connect as he dialed up a 3-pointer to begin the half. On the Bears next possession, Lipscomb would steal the ball and feed Landon Tillman for the basket as the Lakers cut the lead to 37-33. The Lakers turned up the defensive pressure and forced a Mott turnover on their next possession. On the Lakers next possession, Chris Tackett would grab an offensive rebound and feed Zach Wartley for a 3-pointer to cut the Mott lead to 1 point at 37-36. Mott would then miss their next shot and Lipscomb drained an 8 foot shot in the paint to give the Lakers a 38-37 lead. It took the Lakers about 2 minutes to erase the 11 point deficit. The next two Laker possessions ended strangely as two consecutive offensive fouls were called on guards away from the basket enabling the Bears to regain the lead at 43-38. On the Lakers next possession, Jaidon Lipscomb would drive the lane and connect on an old fashioned 3-point play as he hit the layup and the free throw. The pivotal basket came on the Bears next possession. The Lakers played strong defense before Mott hit a desperation 3 as the shot clock expired. The basket gave Mott a 46-41 advantage and the momentum. From there, Lakeland was unable to regain the momentum as the Bears earned the win.

The leading scorer for the Lakers was Jaidon Lipscomb as he finished his afternoon with 28 points. Zach Wartley finished his day with 12 points while Landon Tillman collected 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Elhadji Thiam finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds and Chris Tackett added 2 points and 11 rebounds in the Laker defeat.

Laker Notables: Landon Tillman, Jaidon Lipscomb, and Zach Wartley finished their Lakeland careers with an astonishing 48-8 overall record (85.7% win percentage). They also led the Lakers to two OCCAC Championships, a District semi-final finish, and a 5th place finish at Nationals in the 21-22 season.