SOUTHFIELD--With a game-high 25 points, senior
Brandon Beavers made school history on Wednesday night on the way to leading Lawrence Tech to a come-from-behind 80-73 victory over visiting Cornerstone in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference men's basketball action at the Don Ridler Field House.
Lawrence Tech improves to 7-5 in the WHAC while the Golden Eagle are now 6-5 in conference play; both teams are 10-7 overall.
Lawrence Tech Highlights
- Beavers finished the evening 9-of-13 field goal shooting, including 3-for-5 from three-point land, and 4-for-4 at the free throw line. He also led all student-athletes in both rebounds (9) and assists (6), plus he had two steals.
- Junior Cameron McEvans came off the bench to score 17 points which included two key 3balls in the second half.
- Senior Alejandro Gonzalez and junior Ioannis Giannoultsis contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Cornerstone Highlights
- Cory Ainsworth led the Golden Eagles with 25 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor to go along with eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
- Eli Steffen had 12 points and six assists.
- Jack Joldersma (9 points) tied Ainsworth for the team lead with eight rebounds.
How it HappenedÂ
- Lawrence Tech took the lead for good when McEvans sank a couple free throws to break a 56-all tie with 7 minutes and 12 seconds left in the second half.
- The Blue Devils took advantage of 17 Golden Eagles turnovers to outscore them 20-7 in that category.
- Leading 27-23 at the 6:54 mark of the first half, CU went on a 10-1 run to go up 37-24--its biggest lead of the game--on a Kayden Bird triple (6 points) with 4:24 remaining.
- Cornerstone took a 39-32 lead into the intermission.
- But LTU outscored the Golden Eagles 48-34 in the second half by shooting 50 percent from the field and attacking the basket while making 13 of 18 free throws for 72.2 percent.
- McEvans keyed the comeback by scoring all but two of his points over the final 14 minutes.
- Gonzalez drained a couple of 3-pointers to ignited the Blue Devils on a 9-4 run to open the second half, trailing just 43-41 at 13:50 after a McEvans trey of his own.
- Cornerstone responded with baskets on two straight possessions to go up 48-41 at the 13:08 mark.
- Then LTU scored eight unanswered points to take its first lead at 49-48 with 10:54 left. Beavers had four points during the run.
- The teams traded points over the next few minutes before Beavers tied it 56-56.
- Beavers' milestone points came midway through the first half when he stole the ball at center court and scored on a fastbreak layup that made the score 20-17 CU at the time.
Coach Josh Pickens on Brandon Beavers
- "Brandon has been a leader for our team since he stepped onto on campus in 2019. His ability to impact the game in multiple ways makes him the best player in the modern era of our program. His (career) points (record) are one thing, but his character and overall impact on our program is everlasting. We are going to enjoy these next few months with a very special student-athlete like Brandon."
Beyond the Boxscore
- Beavers now has 1,330 points in his LTU career to set the Blue Devils all-time record, eclipsing Jake Mullin's who scored 1311 from 2012-16.
- Including his 2022-23 junior season at Shawnee State when he tallied 399 points, Beavers has scored 1,729 during his NAIA career.
- Cornerstone leads the all-time series 20-4, but LTU has won two of the last three meetings.
- The Blue Devils 80 points are the most they have scored against CU since an 82-73 win on Feb. 13, 2019.
- Ainsworth has WHAC ranks of second in field goal percentage (.656) and fourth in scoring average (17.8 ppg), while Beavers is tied for first in rebounding (8.1 rpg) and third in scoring (18.8 ppg).
- The Blue Devils are second in the nation with 11.9 three-point field goals made per outing and first with 34.1 attempts.
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