The Lake Erie men’s basketball team lost March 7 in the championship game of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference tournament. But in the big picture, a win seems in the offing.
Against host and No. 1 seed Walsh University, the No. 2 seed Storm lost, 86-73, and their 11-game winning streak came to an end.
LEC fell to 23-8 while Walsh improved to 27-3 and earned the GMAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division II tournament.
As for LEC’s tournament hopes, they look good, especially after the program’s win over Ashland in the GMAC semifinal round.
In D-II, the tournament’s 64-team field is comprised of top eight teams from eight regions. LEC is currently ranked No. 6 in the Midwest Region, and even with the loss to Walsh, ranked No. 5 in the Midwest Region, it appears the Storm have done enough to earn an at-large bid.
The NCAA’s D-II men’s selection show is March 8 at 11 p.m.
Against Walsh, the Storm trailed, 42-35, at halftime, and it was a similar situation to the night before against Ashland in a GMAC semifinal, where they trailed at half and by double figures in the second half, only to rally for a victory.
Only this time, the comeback magic wasn’t there for LEC. Still, it made a run at the comeback.
At the 10-minute mark of the second half, a Caelum Ethridge 3-pointer pulled the visitors to within five at 62-57. Walsh then answered with an 8-0 run, and it was 70-57 with 7 minutes to play.
Amari Williams led the Storm with 20 points. Ethridge and Griffin Turay each had 11 points, while Kai Bloom added 10 points.
Walsh had seven players with at least eight points and were led by Brayden Gross’ 13. Zack Oddo and Quintero Barnett each had 12 points. Mentor grad Matthew Biddell chipped in with eight points.