The NJCAA DII 9th ranked Lakeland Lakers played host to the Lorain County Commodores in OCCAC action today in Laker Gym. In an uneven effort, the Lakers were still able to come away with an 89-75 victory over the Commodores. In the first half, Lorain County came after the Lakers very aggressively. Lakeland struggled with shooting as they missed several close range shots early on. This enabled Lorain to take a 7 point lead early before the Lakers righted the ship and took control. With the Lakers trailing 25-24, Jareon Mayo hit a floater to give Lakeland a 26-25 lead. On the next posession the Commodores would turn the ball over and Alex Benson would finish the play with a thunderous dunk.  After a Lorain layup, Mark Wise would feed Nate Houston for a layup and a 30-27 Laker lead. Benson would then connect on 1-2 free throws before a Lorain 3-pointer cut the Laker lead to 31-30. Lakeland's Adam Williams would then hit a 5-foot floater. After a Lorain miss, Justin Covington would hit a jumper to give the Lakers a 35-30 lead with 4:12 to play in the half.  Covington would score again on a layup after a Lorain basket to make the score 37-32. Lorain would then turn the ball over and Benson would feed Chris Tackett for a layup. After another Lorain turnover, Mayo would hit a jumpshot to extend the Laker lead to 41-32. Lakeland would then committ a turnover and fouls to allow Lorain to narrow the score at 41-37. Lakeland's Mark Wise would then feed Brandon Lane for a basket and a 43-37 Laker lead. After Lorain connected on 1-2 free throws, Alex Benson would hit Jareon Mayo with a quick pass for a layup and a 45-38 Laker lead going into the break.

In the second half, Lakeland would start quickly to grow their lead. After a pair of free throws from Lorain, Chris Tackett fed Jareon Mayo for a basket and a 47-40 lead. The Commodores would then turn the ball over and Jareon Mayo would take advantage hitting an 8-footer. On the next possession, Chris Tackett would come up with a strong blocked shot. He would then feed Mark Wise and hustle down the court for a return pass from Wise and a monster dunk to grow the Laker lead to 51-40. The Lakers lead would remain between 9-12 points for the next several minutes as the teams traded baskets. This pace would continue until Mark Wise drained a 3-pointer to grow the Laker lead to 15, 80-65, with 4:30 to play. Chris Tackett was then fouled and connected on a free throw before Nate Houston stole the ball and scored on a layup to put the Lakers up 83-65 with less than 4 minutes to play. From there, the Lakers cruised to victory.

Lakeland had 11 different players score in todays game. Jareon Mayo led the way with 21 points while Mark Wise finished the afternoon with 12 points. Alex Benson and Dondi Harper each score 9 points for the Lakers while Chris Tackett finished with 7 points in the win. PJ Daniels, Adam Williams, and Justin Covington each scored 6 points while Bishop Thomas finished with 5 points for Lakeland.  

T's Thoughts:  "Credit to Lorain County today. They really played hard and attacked us at the rim. We have some things to work on - this is a new group and we've only played 8 games together. We will work to figure some things out. We will need to be more consistent with our effort moving forward. We'll get back at it and work hard - we have some tough opponents coming up."

Next Up: The Lakers will travel to Kent State Tucarawas to face the Golden Eagles on Wednesday, December 20. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 pm.