Yellow Jackets Shut Down Visiting Lake Erie

by Josh Decker

The Cedarville Yellow Jackets defeated Lake Erie for the second time in three days with a 70-55 home win on Monday night. The victory marks Cedarville’s fourth straight win and puts the Jackets’ record at 5-2 overall in the conference. It was a solid performance considering the team did not have their full starting lineup available.

Junior Branden Maughmer highlighted the Cedarville offense, dropping 26 points and dishing out three assists.

Sophomore Jacob Drees had a double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling in 10 rebounds. Freshman Jayvon Maughmer enjoyed a nice shooting night off the bench, scoring 13 points on 5-7 shooting from the field.

“I think we came out in the second half with a lot of energy and that helped fuel us to a double-digit lead and we just never looked back,” said Drees about the team’s performance.

In the first half, both teams struggled to put points on the board. A Branden Maughmer layup was the only points scored for either side three and a half minutes into the game.

Neither offense could pick up the pace throughout the rest of the half, and the teams went into the locker-room with Cedarville holding a narrow 33-25 lead.

The Yellow Jackets shot 44 percent from the field in the first half, and only 27 percent from 3-point range.

Defensively, Cedarville held the Storm to only 33 percent from the field while allowing only three made baskets inside the 3-point line the entire half.

Branden Maughmer paced the Cedarville first half offense with 11 points, followed by Jayvon Maughmer who had eight points.

In the second half, Cedarville continued to play tight defense, giving full effort on that end of the court.

After an abysmal first half of shooting from deep, the Jackets shot 56 percent from the 3-point line after the break to hit 37 percent from deep on the game. Cedarville shot 48 percent as a team from the field on the night, and converted at 73 percent from the free-throw line.

One key to the victory was that Cedarville controlled the boards throughout the game. Against one of the best rebounding teams in the G-MAC, the Jackets took a 39-27 advantage on the glass.

Cedarville also dominated the paint on offense, outscoring Lake Erie 30-10 in the game.

The Yellow Jackets also turned up the energy in the second half on defense, limiting the Storm to only 33 percent shooting from the field as a team, while also forcing 11 turnovers.

“I think we turned up our intensity and communicated really well,” noted Drees.

Cedarville will look to keep the momentum going as the team travels to Ohio Valley on Thursday, January 28th for another G-MAC matchup. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Josh Decker is a junior Sport Business Management major, and a sports reporter for Cedars. He loves playing sports with friends, and spends much of his free time as a student assistant for the Cedarville men’s basketball team.