The Lakeland men's basketball team played the tournament hosts St. Clair County Skippers tonight and fell by a final score of 78-77. The Lakers put themselves in a big hole in the first half as they shot just 37.5% (9-24) from the field while the Skippers attempted 16 more shots and shot 45% (18-40). The key stats for the half were turnovers and steals. The Lakers lost the turnover battle (14-5) while also having just 1 steal compared to the Skippers 6 steals in the 1st half. With those discrepancies, the Lakers went into the break trailing 48-26.

In the second half, the Lakers went to work. The comeback started with Jadallah Suleiman making 1-2 free throws. Following a St. Clair miss, Amarion Glenn scored a layup on an assist from Isaiah McAdams. After a St. Clair turnover, McAdams would make a layup. After St. Clair made 1-2 free throws, Suleiman would grab an offensive rebound and feed Micah Blackmon for a layup. St. Clair would then miss a shot before McAdams would score on a layup to bring the Lakers within 14 points at 49-35. Following another St. Clair missed shot, Amarion Glenn would grab an offensive rebound leading to another Blackmon layup. The Lakers defense would then force a turnover and the Lakers Jadallah Suleiman made them pay by scoring on a jumper to bring the Lakers within 10 points, 49-39, with 16:27 to play. After another St. Clair miss, Isaiah McAdams scored another layup on a Glenn assist. St. Clair would make 2 free throws before Micah Blackmon grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a layup. Over the next several minutes, both teams would struggle to create offense until Marlon Landingham connected on a 3-pointer to make the score 57-50 with 11 minutes to play.

Over the next couple of minutes the Laker deficit would grow to 9 points until Isaiah McAdams made a layup. St. Clair then missed a shot before Micah Blackmon converted a 3-point play to bring the Lakers within 4 points, 65-61, with 7:22 to play. The Skippers would then hit a big 3-pointer before Alikai Creque scored a layup. After a St. Clair miss, Marlon Landingham connected on 2 free throws to make the score 68-65 with 5:42 to play. Both teams would committ turnovers before the Skippers made a layup. Landingham immediately responded by draining a 3-pointer to bring the Lakers within 2 points at 70-68. St. Clair would then make a basket to push the lead back to 4 points. After both teams missed shots, Jadallah Suleiman would score on a driving layup to make the score 70-72. St. Clair then would get fouled and make 1-2 free throws. It was a key possession though as the Skippers were able to grab an offensive rebound and score to grow their lead to 75-70. The Lakers were not done though as on their next possession, Micah Blackmon would grab an offensive rebound before Landingham scored on a layup. After a St. Clair layup, both teams would miss before Isaiah McAdams scored on a layup to make the score 77-74 with 1:24 to play. St. Clair would later make a free throw and Jadallah Suleiman would follow with a layup to make the score 78-76 with 37 seconds to play. Following a missed St. Clair free throw, the Skippers would foul and the Lakers would make 1-2 free throws to make the score 78-77 with 4 seconds to play. After a quick foul by the Lakers, the Skippers would miss the free throw and then the Lakers used two timeouts to advance the ball and set up the final shot. Unfortunately for the Lakers, the shot did not fall as time expired.

Lakeland had a balanced scoring attack as 4 different players finished in double digits. Marlon Landingham (22 points, 5 rebounds) was the games leading scorer while Isaiah McAdams finished with 14 points and 4 boards. Micah Blackmon (16 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) and Jadallah Suleiman (11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) both had strong games for the Lakers. Chauncey Brashers finished his evening with 6 points while Alikai Creque added 3 points and 3 rebounds. Amarion Glenn finished with 2 points and 6 boards while Juwan Turner chipped in 3 points in the Lakers defeat.

Coach T's Talk: "Have to credit St. Clair as they played well and did a nice job on the boards. Tough first half overall, but I am really proud of the way we battled back. Our team doesn't quit - which is a good trait. We will learn from this and get better. We have to get over this quickly as we have another tough challenge tomorrow."

Next Up: On Saturday (12/6), the Lakers will face the Glen Oaks Vikings in a 1:00 pm tip.