Lakers Pull Away from SC4 in Second Half Win

Mt Pleasant, MI - The Mid Michigan Lakers men's basketball team has multiple offensive weapons at it's disposal this season.  On Friday night against the Skippers of St. Clair, they unleashed all of them in a 106-79 victory.

The opening half was a back-and-forth battle, with neither side able to create much separation until the final minute before halftime.

Mid trailed 14–13 at the 15-minute mark, but momentum quickly shifted when Zack Parks and Amonti Greene drilled back-to-back three-pointers, forcing an early SC4 timeout. Parks kept the energy high minutes later, throwing down a dunk at the 8:40 mark that brought the crowd to its feet and nudged Mid in front, 27–25.

The Skippers responded, but Vynce Overshown buried a three with seven minutes remaining to push Mid ahead 32–29. SC4 answered with a push of its own, but Jaden Clark connected from deep to tie the game at 35—all part of a blistering shooting performance from beyond the arc. Mid finished the night 19-of-35 from three, a scorching 54 percent

In the final minute of the half, Bryce White knocked down a three and Clark added a bucket to give Mid a 42–37 edge. After an SC4 bucket, Chris Zielinski hit a three and  Amonti Greene added a free throw—sending Mid into the locker room with a 46–39 halftime lead.

In the second half, DJ Weaver buried a three to push the margin to seven. Moments later, a full-effort hustle play from Zack Parks—diving on the floor to secure a loose ball—gave MMC an extra possession, and Weaver capitalized again with another triple. The shot forced an SC4 timeout at the 16:30 mark with Mid stretching the lead to 59–49.

The momentum snowballed from there. A three-point play from Chris Zielienski gave the Lakers their largest lead of the night with 14:30 remaining. On the next possession, a strong drive by Bryce White extended the margin to 14. Just a minute later, Parks delivered the knockout sequence: a hard drive and dunk in traffic, followed by a steal and lay-in off an errant Skipper pass, ballooning the advantage to 70–52 and all but sealing the outcome.

SC4 never drew within 20 in the final 12 minutes as Mid continued to control pace, tempo, and shot-making on its way to a 106-79 final.

"We didn't rebound great, but our goal is to fight on every shot," said Head Coach Kaleb House. "The guys took off tonight. The challenge going forward is how do we replicate tonight's effort. Really proud of the guys and thankful for our coaching staff that did a tremendous job tonight."

Parks led all scorers with 26 points on an efficient 10-of-14 shooting night. "Zack is a really talented kid and plays extremely hard," House said. "He had a chip on his shoulder today as he was recruited by (SC4) and is from that area. It's easy to root for a guy like Zack."

"Our scout team did a great job of replicating what they do," Parks added. "Coach's put together a great game plan and we all contributed to its execution."

A balanced offensive attack fueled Mid's 106-point performance—its third 100-plus outing of the young season. Amonti Greene and Vynce Overshown scored 17 apiece; Greene dished out 10 assists while Overshown added seven.

The Lakers (4–1), currently ranked No. 14 in the country, return to action Thursday at 5 p.m. against No. 17 Monroe Community College. The matchup is part of a loaded SC4 Thumbcoast Kickoff Tournament field that also includes No. 1 Parkland, No. 9 Macomb, and No. 22 Bryant & Stratton. The game will be streamed online for a fee.