One of the most difficult things to do is beat a team in back-to-back games. This is especialy true on back-to-back days after winning comfortably during the first game. The Lakers, playing their 4th game in the past week - 3 of which were on the road, fell to the Eagles 88-87 in OCCAC play. With the loss, the Lakers fall to 18-3 and 10-2 in OCCAC play. The Lakers had a very difficult first half defensively. Though Lakeland scored a respectable 43 points, they were unable to stop the Eagles as they took advantage of the Lakers defensive effort to lead 53-43 going into the break.

In the second half, it took the Lakers a little under 4 minutes to erase their deficit. Bishop Thomas got the Lakers started with a layup. Lakeland then forced an Eagles turnover and Alex Benson nailed a 3-pointer to make the score 53-48. The Lakers defense forced another turnover and Jareon Mayo was fouled driving the lane. Mayo made both free throws and now the Lakers trailed 53-50. After a Clark miss shot, Ansoumane Oulare grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a put back to bring the Lakers within one at 53-52. Following another Clark miss, Alex Benson picked up the long rebound and drove the length of the court scoring and giving the Lakers a 54-53 lead. After a Clark 3-pointer, PJ Daniels made a layup to knot the score at 56. On the Eagles next possession, Daniels stole the ball and scored on a layup for a 58-56 Laker lead. The Eagles then hit a 3-pointer before connecting on 2 free throws after a Laker foul to regain the lead at 64-61. Benson was then fouled driving the lane and he hit both free throws to draw the Lakers within 1 at 64-63. After a Clark turnover, Bishop Thomas was fouled and hit 1-2 free throws to tie the game at 64. The Eagles then scored quickly followed with a 3-pointer after the Lakers were called for an offensive foul. Trailing 69-64, Mayo was fouled and hit both free throws to make the score 69-66. The Lakers were then whistled for a foul and the Eagles hit both free throws. On the Lakers next possession, Ansoumane Oulare grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. Oulare hit both free throws to bring the Lakers within 3 at 71-68. Moments later, Jareon Mayo stole the ball and scored on a layup to make the score 71-70. Both teams missed opportunities before Dondi Harper stole the ball and scored giving the Lakers a 72-71 lead. After an Eagle basket, Bishop Thomas grabbed an offensive rebound and basket to regain the Laker lead at 74-73 with 7:30 to play. The Lakers were then whistled for a foul and missed a shot while the Eagles rebuilt their lead to 78-74. On the Lakers next possession, Brandon Lane was fed inside and hit a quick layup  to make the score 78-76. After an Eagle basket, Jareon Mayo was fouled and hit both free throws bringing the Lakers within 2 at 80-78. Clark then scored a quick basket to make it 82-78. After both teams missed shots, the Lakers rebounded the ball and hit a releasing Mayo for a layup to cut the Laker deficit to 2 at 82-80. The Eagles then connected on an off-balance floater before scoring again after a Laker miss to take the lead at 86-80 with 3 minutes to play. PJ Daniels then connected on a slicing layup before the Eagles hit 1-2 free throws after the Lakers were whistled for another foul. Both teams missed on their next posssessions before Mayo drained two more free throws after being fouled to make the score 87-84 with 1:06 to play. Lakeland then played very strong defense and forced a 30 second violation. Coming out of a Lakeland timeout, Jareon Mayo stroked a 3-pointer to tie the score at 87 with 20.4 seconds to play. Clark State then wound the clock down looking for the last shot. With under 10 seconds to play, the Eagle player drove the lane and threw the ball up as he was falling to the ground under the basket. The Lakers were whistled for a foul and the Eagles hit 1-2 to take the lead at 88-87 with 6.5 seconds to play. Lakeland quickly inbounded the ball and put up a 3-pointer in a crowd as the Laker was going to the ground. Lakeland gathered the rebound and put up a shot from about 8 feet out in a crowd of Eagles. As the Laker went to the ground, the ball fell short and time expired. 

Lakeland had 9 different players score in this afternoon's games. Jareon Mayo led the Lakers with 35 points while Alex Benson finished with 21 points. Bishop Thomas scored 9 points and PJ Daniels added 7 points for the Lakers. Brandon Lane finished the game with 6 points. 

T's Thoughts: "Credit Clark State as they played harder then we did. They wanted it more and you can't put forth the type of effort that we did against anyone in the league. We'll learn from this, regroup, and come out stronger for our next game."

Next Up: The Lakers will begin a slate of 5 consecutive home games to close out their season on Wednesday night (2/14). The Lakers are scheduled to play the Cuyahoga Triceratops in a 7:30 pm tip.