{"id":78856,"date":"2026-01-06T00:56:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78856\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T00:56:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:56:23","slug":"lake-erie-mens-basketball-rallies-to-beat-kentucky-wesleyan-improves-to-9-4-news-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78856\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Erie men\u2019s basketball rallies to beat Kentucky Wesleyan, improves to 9-4 \u2013 News-Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Great Midwest Athletic Conference men\u2019s basketball conference is truly up for grabs this season, and Lake Erie College finds itself right in the mix.<\/p>\n<p>To say the race for the GMAC regular-season title is a cluster might be an understatement at the early part of this season.<\/p>\n<p>The Storm added to that cluster Jan. 5 with a come-from-behind, 82-77 win over visiting Kentucky Wesleyan in a late-afternoon GMAC contest at LEC\u2019s Athletics and Wellness Center in Painesville.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Lake Erie men's basketball coach Kyle Conley during his team's 82-77 win over Kentucky Wesleyan Jan. 5. (Paul DiCicco - For The News-Herald)\" width=\"2048\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767660983_579_TNH-L-BKC-Lake-Erie-0105-26.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"1913562\" \/>Lake Erie men&#8217;s basketball coach Kyle Conley during his team&#8217;s 82-77 win over Kentucky Wesleyan Jan. 5. (Paul DiCicco &#8211; For The News-Herald)<\/p>\n<p>LEC improved to 9-4 overall and 3-2 in the GMAC with five other teams. First-place Northwood is a half-game ahead in first place at 4-2 in the league and 9-4 overall. Six of the top seven teams in the GMAC all have nine victories this season, with Malone atop that group with a 10-3 mark.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Kyle Conley\u2019s team faced a 37-33 deficit after 20 minutes but found its footing in the second half, as it outscored Kentucky Wesleyan, 49-40, in the second half.<\/p>\n<p>Gio Moore was the Storm\u2019s leading scorer with 22 points. Three other LEC players were in double-figures scoring as Cealum Ethridge had 15 points, Kai Bloom had 12 points (with nine rebounds and four assists), and Brush product Trace Bishko added 10 points and three assists.<\/p>\n<p>LEC shot just 34.6 from the floor while Kentucky Wesleyan made 50 percent of its shots. The Storm were buoyed by 11 made 3-point shots. Wesleyan was just 3 of 15 from beyond the arc. LEC committed only nine turnovers and forced 20.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news-herald.com\/2026\/01\/05\/photos-lake-erie-vs-kentucky-wesleyan-mens-basketball-jan-5-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PHOTOS: Lake Erie vs. Kentucky Wesleyan men\u2019s basketball, Jan. 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Storm&#8217;s season so far has been one of streaks. They opened 5-0, then dropped four straight. LEC is currently on a four-game winning streak with its next game at home Jan. 8 against Ashland. That&#8217;s another critical game for the Storm as the Eagles travel to Lake County as another of the GMAC&#8217;s 3-2 teams.<\/p>\n<p>While most of the Storm&#8217;s games have produced games with the offense scoring in the 70- to 80-point range, two outlier games are worth mentioning.<\/p>\n<p>On Nov. 29 against Mansfield, LEC lit up the scoreboard in a record-setting 126-87 victory that included a school-record 70-point first half. The 126 points were also a school record.<\/p>\n<p>On Dec. 20 against Penn State Dubois, LEC topped that with a 132-70 win that was the third-highest single-game point total in GMAC history. The 74 points in the second half also broke LEC&#8217;s previous mark set on Nov. 29.<\/p>\n<p>The Storm have four players averaging double-figures in scoring this season, led by Amari Williams&#8217; 13.2 points and a team-high 5.3 rebounds. Gavin Welch is at 11.7 points, Bloom 11.5 and Moore 11.3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Great Midwest Athletic Conference men\u2019s basketball conference is truly up for grabs this season, and Lake Erie&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2300,136,138,137,6608,241,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-78856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-college-sports","9":"tag-erie","10":"tag-erie-headlines","11":"tag-erie-news","12":"tag-lake-erie-college","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}