TIFFIN, Ohio - Senior Brandon Harris turned only the second triple double in school history as the Tiffin University men's basketball team (15-13, 7-11 GLIAC) defeated Lake Erie (9-16, 4-14 GLIAC) 80-67, Thursday night at the Gillmor Center. The win gave TU its first winning season since 2005-06.
After four minutes, the score was 5-5. Lake Erie rolled out eight straight points and maintained an eight point lead, 19-11 with 11:43 to go.
Tiffin then went on a roll. The Dragons outscored the Strom 20-7 over the next seven minutes. A layup by freshman Andrew Bendolph at the 4:31 mark made it 31-26, TU.
LEC reeled off six straight points to lead 32-31 with 1:47. The lead went back and forth with Rich Austin tipping in a shot at the buzzer. That made it 37-36, Tiffin at the break.
In the second half, the two clubs traded blows. Down 46-45 with 15:40 to go, the Dragons made their move. TU outscored Lake Erie 19-10 to lead 64-56 with 6:51 to go.
The Storm refused to quit slowly cutting into the lead. Tom Parker hit a lay up to end a 10-0 run. That put LEC up, 65-64 at the 4:50 mark. Tiffin ended the game with a 16-2 run to put it away.
For Tiffin, Harris had 13 points, 10 rebounds and blocked 10 shots, the second triple double in school history and the first since the school went Division II in 2006. The last Dragons player to record a triple double was Andre'as James in 1998 with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Senior Karl Finley has 23 points, sophomore Joe Graessle had 14 points and freshman Iman Johnson had 13 points and nine rebounds.
For Lake Erie, Riley Thomas had 12 points and six assists, Austin had 12 points and three steals and Nate Tait scored 11 off the bench.
Tiffin closes out season, Saturday, February 25 on the road against Ohio Dominican. The game is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m.
Live Stats will be available at http://livestats.prestosports.com/ohiodominican/
-TIFFIN UNIVERSITY-
