Dragons Take Flight Over Lakers

Dragons Take Flight Over Lakers

TIFFIN, Ohio - Thursday night's game was never in doubt, as Tiffin men's basketball led by double digits for over 30 minutes and dominated Wright State-Lake to the tune of a 127-78 victory.

The Dragons scored over 60 points in both halves, with a 61-24 first-half margin putting the game far out of reach early.

Tiffin outshot WSU-Lake 57.1% to 40.3% in the game, and grabbed 17 more rebounds (57-40) than the Lakers. Tiffin also assisted on 30 of their made baskets, while WSU-Lake tallied just 14 assists.

Some of the more astonishing numbers came in correlation with turnovers, as the Dragons forced 26 Laker giveaways while coughing up the ball just 14 times. This led to TU holding a 47-7 advantage in points off turnovers and helped create a whopping 56-5 margin in fastbreak points.

Tiffin also tallied 94 points in the paint compared to just 42 for WSU-Lake, and the Dragon bench outscored the Laker reserves 75-21.

All but one Dragon that saw minutes in the game recorded points on the night, with seven in double figures.

Jairus Stevens just barely missed a double-double, recording 18 points and nine rebounds on 8-14 shooting. Jamaal Clifton tied Stevens for the team lead with 18 points along with seven boards on the night.

Brevin Brimble and Trent Williams both had 15 points from the guard position, with Brimble also dishing out seven assists and Williams recording six assists, nine boards, and three steals. 

The other three Dragons with double digit scoring nights were Joshua Williams at 14 points, Wesley Jordan with 10 points, and Ian Kelly with 10 points and nine rebounds.

WSU-Lake was able to get on the board first on a Reggie Priah layup a minute in. Priah would go on to lead the Lakers in scoring with 29 points, but this was already the point that the tides turned completely in Tiffin's favor for the rest of the evening.

TU responded with 13 unanswered after that first bucket, as a Brimble triple put the home team on top 13-2 at the 15:25 mark. 

Another big run came midway through the opening half. Tiffin led 32-18 with just over eight minutes to play, but then rattled off 12-straight points capped by a Jarell Taylor layup to completely blow the game open and take a 26-point lead, 44-18, with 4:32 remaining before halftime.

It didn't get much better for the Lakers from there, as Tiffin then went on a 17-6 run to close the half and take a 61-24 lead at the break.

The second-half was much of the same, as the Dragons kept building their lead higher and higher before finally taking the 49-point victory.

It was TU's highest scoring output and margin of victory since just under a year ago, when the Dragons dominated Carlow University 142-81 on Nov. 23, 2018.

Tiffin will now travel to Salem University in West Virginia for their first road game of the season, taking on the Tigers at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.