After Slow First Half, East Lansing Cruises to Win in Playoff Opener

Game one of the regular season featured an East Lansing-DeWitt matchup, and in a twist of fate so too did this year's postseason. Same teams, and unfortunately for DeWitt, same result. East Lansing defeated the Panthers on their home floor 53-27.

The first half was anemic to put it lightly. After one quarter DeWitt held a 5-3 lead, and the Panthers took a 13-11 lead into the halftime locker room. 16 minutes of basketball only produced 24 points due to a combination of great defense and some unfriendly rims at DeWitt high school. At the halftime break East Lansing was 0-11 from three point range, DeWitt was 2-10.

Down two points at half and shooting what could very well be their worst percentages of the season, East Lansing interim coach Kevin Mayes made some magic happen between the second and third quarter in the locker room and East Lansing came out on fire to start the second half. Run after run for the Trojans could not be answered by DeWitt and with 22 points in the third quarter and 20 in the fourth, East Lansing cruised to the lopsided victory.

East Lansing advances to play St. Johns in the district semifinals at DeWitt on Wednesday. The other half of the bracket sees Grand Ledge playing against Waverly.

Team Stats:

Individual Stats:

Noah Schon (EL): 13 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist

Brandon Johns (EL): 10 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks

Malik Jones (EL): 6 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 5 steals

Marcus Wourman Jr. (EL): 4 points, 1 rebound, 5 assists, 2 steals

Luke Hyde (DEW): 9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists

Nathan Flannery (DEW): 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 block

Isaac Hungerford (DEW): 6 points, 3 rebounds

Tanner Reha (DEW): 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block