GOSHEN, Ind.- 40 minutes of Basketball and two double-doubles later and the Lawrence Tech Men's Basketball team earned an 80-70 victory over Goshen to open up their season.
The Blue Devils opened up their season on the road for the 4th time since the Josh Pickens era has started here and has found success as of late, taking the season opener on the road for the third time in a row.
This time the Blue Devils headed to the rolling hills of Northeastern Indiana to take on the Maple Leafs, who were 1-0 heading into tonight's contest. The last time the Maple Leafs and Blue Devils clashed was on December 20, 2019, in Southfield, Michigan, which saw the Blue Devils win by two.
The Blue Devils and the Maple Leafs were in a back and forth contest in the first half's early goings. This came before a few offensive mistakes by the Maple Leafs that allowed the Blue Devils to push ahead. It wasn't enough of a push as the Maple Leafs started to make a push of their own to close out the first half. However, the Blue Devils would go on a run and end the first half up 32-28.
A cold start to the second half had the Blue Devils looking to the bench for some spark offensively. That spark for the Blue Devils came from Sanna Sisawo, who had 8 pts and 5 rebounds on the evening for the Blue Devils. Getting stops on defense and continuing to pound the glass every chance they got gave the Blue Devils the advantage. As the later part of the game came about, it was clear that the Blue Devils were battling.
A big three-pointer by Carter Frantz, who ended the night with 15 pts, 2 rebounds, and an assist, got the Blue Devils back in the game. Offensive laps by the Maple Leafs and bad shots allowed the Blue Devils to lead late alongside a series of miscues on defense for Goshen, allowing the Blue Devils to head to the line.
All of this coming about Brandon Beavers continued to push the Blue Devils, scoring 13 pts, alongside 11 rebounds and 8 assists. Isaiah Cumberland, who struggled at times last year, went 5-10 from the field and 6-6 at the charity stripe to net 16 pts on the evening alongside 2 rebounds. Big man Gunnar Gustafson grabbed 11 boards to go with his 16 pts and an assist. Meanwhile, Alek Ivanovic dropped 12 pts going 4-8 from beyond the three-point arc with 5 rebounds and 1 assist tonight.
Overall the Blue Devils went 24-53 from the field, shooting 45 percent to go with a 37 percent evening from beyond the three-point arc on 9-24 shooting. Meanwhile, the team shot 67 percent from the charity stripe on 23-34 shooting. The big game-changer tonight was the rebounds; the Blue Devils grabbed 38 rebounds than Goshen's 22. However, turnovers still plague the Blue Devils, with 16 in total tonight to the 13 Goshen had.
Up next for Lawrence Tech is the Madonna Classic, in which they will take on former National Champion Graceland on Friday evening at Alliance Credit Union Arena. From there, the Blue Devils will return for day two on Saturday afternoon, taking on Judson.
