The Wright State Lake Campus Men's Basketball team had their last home game, until December 1, last night as they took on another NAIA opponent, Huntington University Foresters. The Foresters came out of the gate early establishing big man Tyler Arens as Arens scored 10 of the Foresters first 15 points. The Lakers eventually settled in and used their pressure to create tempo and chip their way back into the game. The Lakers had the Foresters lead cut to 9 with three minutes to play but sloppy play allowed Huntington to push the lead to 13 at the break. Out of halftime the Lakers pushed hard again, but bad shots and defensive breakdowns allowed Huntington to ballon their lead as much as 18 with ten minutes to play. The Lakers responded out of a timeout and cut the lead to 13 with six to play but would get no closer as the Foresters calmly used a 19-8 run to close the game and push it out of reach for the Lakers. The Lakers were led by a trio of bench scorers last night: Isaac Clay's 13 points on 6/9 shooting, Quincy Green scored 11 points on 5/9 shooting, and Zakarius Milhouse chipped in 10 points on 5/10 shooting.
Inside the Box Score:
- The Lakers had shot 39.5% on 81 shots while the Foresters shot 56.9% on 58 shots
- 3 point shooting woes: the Lakers shot 4/28 from deep. The worse percentage of the season for the Lakers
- Free Throw Comparison: WSULC went 0/2 from the free throw line compared to HU 17/24
- Lakers won the turnover battle forcing 17 turnovers while only committing 8 for the game
What Coach Says:
Coach Richard Westerlund on his team's performance, "It is of the same things we've been talking about. We have to limit the amount of bad shots we take and limit the big runs other teams go on us. We are close to breaking through. We are knocking on the door but we're not there yet. Only going to the free throw line 2 times is really bad. We have to be aggressive to the hoop and put the refs in a situation where they have to call something. Tonight we just didn't have it from 3, and those nights will happen time to time, but we have to be able to rely on our defense, and it's hard to rely on defense when you take bad shots." Coach Westerlund on the 1-5 start, "We scheduled this way intentionally we knew our schedule was tough and it could go one or two ways, and unfortunately it went the way we did not want it to go, but I am encouraged. Our guys are getting better. This group can be very special, and we are seeing a team mature and grow through some losses that I believe will prepare us for conference play." On his bench play tonight Coach Westerlund said, "Our bench was really solid tonight for the most part. Isaac Clay, Zakarius Milhouse, and Quincy Green stick out the most. They were efficient offensively, which was a struggle tonight. I also thought Tyrone Auzenne had his moments tonight where he looked solid. We need our bench to continue to develop consistency as we continue on this season."
Up Next:
Lakers start a 4 game road trip by traveling to Iowa to take on:
Grinnell College, Friday November 17 8p EST
#3 William Penn College, Saturday November 18th 3p EST
