The Lakland men's basketball team played against the Erie Community College Kats in their home opener today. The Lakers would build a 13 point lead with under 8 minutes to play before the Kats held a tremendous rally. The Lakers would ultimately withstand the run and go on to a 78-73 victory. With the win, the Lakers improve to 3-0 on the season. Both teams made runs in the first half which made it a back and forth affair. With the score tied at 26, Jareon Mayo would grab an offensive rebound and drive the length of the floor scoring on a layup. Adam Williams would then grab a rebound and fire a pass to a streaking Mayo who was fouled on the shot. Mayo would sink both free throws for a 30-26 Laker lead. After an Erie miss, Mark Wise hit a deep 3-pointer for a 33-26 Laker advantage and they were off to the races. The Lakers would go into the break with a 41-32 lead.
In the second half, the teams would trade baskets for the first 12 minutes of action. The Lakers led 69-56 after a Nate Houston 3-pointer. Lakeland built their lead with quick tempo play and tremendous passing; but things were about to get tight. On the Kats next possession they hit a 3-pointer from the corner to make the score 69-59. On Lakeland's next possession, Alex Benson would convert a thunderous dunk to push the Laker lead back to 71-59. The Kats answered with another 3-pointer before the Lakers missed their next shot. ECC scored again and suddenly it was a 71-64 ballgame. On the Lakers next possession, they were called for a charge and then the Kats were fouled while shooting. They made 1 of 2 free throws to trim the score to 71-65. On the Lakers next possession, Benson was fouled while going to the rim. Benson sank 1-2 free throws to push the lead back 7 points, 72-65. Lakeland then fouled the Kats who converted both free throws to put the score at 72-67 in favor of the Lakers with 3:35 to play. ECC would score again following a Lakeland turnover to make it a one possession game, 72-69, with 2:37 to play. For the next 1:30, both teams would have opportunities to score, but both would come up short. Alex Benson finally broke through hitting an 8' fallaway to give Lakeland a 74-69 lead with 58 seconds to play. The Kats would miss their next shot, but the Lakers would then turn the ball over. Lakeland then fouled ECC with 14.2 seconds to play. ECC hit 1-2 free throws to close the gap to 74-70. On the ensuing play, Jareon Mayo was fouled as the ball was inbounded. He calmly stepped to the line and sank them both to push the Laker lead back to 76-70. On the Kats next possession, they hit a deep 3-pointer to pull back within 3 points at 76-73. When the Lakers were inbounding the ball, Mayo was again fouled. Mayo stepped to the line and drained two more free throws to close out the Laker win.
Lakeland had three players finish in double figures while ten different Lakers scored in the contest. Jareon Mayo led the way with 28 points while Alex Benson scored 15 points for the Lakers. Mark Wise added 10 points and Chris Tackett finished his night with 6 points. Adam Williams, Ansoumane Oulare, and Justin Covington each scored 4 points in the Lakers win.
Players Perspective: Jareon Mayo - "There's a lot of room for improvement. We are building together as a team and we'll continue to improve. We have to focus on staying consistent - when we get a lead - keep it and finish strong. It really helped with all of the players on the team really getting into the game and supporting each other. They really helped keep us together - it was a team win." When asked what he was thinking as he stepped to the line and sank 4 free throws at the end of the game, "I was thinking that I do this all of the time. We do this a lot in practice. I just tried to stay calm."
T's Talk: "We've got to work on our consistency. We had periods of the game where we played well, and other times not so much. I was pleased with the entire team though - they stayed in the game. It was also a nice crowd which gave us some energy and helped us get our first home win of the season - which is nice. We've got a few days now where we can regroup a bit and work on some things. We have a very challenging weekend coming up."
Next Up: The Lakers head to St. Clair County Community College next Friday where they will face off against Marian University Ancilla College at 4:00 pm. On Saturday, they will face Milwaukee Area Tech at 1:00 pm.
