KOKOMO, Ind. -- The Midway University men's basketball team was paced by three players in double figures while leading for all but one minute and nine seconds en route to their first victory of the season over Silver Lake College (Wis.) in the IU Kokomo Classic.
The game was tied just twice, while the lead changed hands just twice as Midway would lead by as many as 15 en route to the 80-70 victory over the Lakers (1-1). The Eagles wrap up the weekend trip to IU Kokomo with a 1-1 record.
Sophomore, Kwon Evans (Louisville, Ky.) led the way for the Eagles with a game-high 23 points to go with a team best six rebounds. Junior, Kaleb Britt (Bowling Green, Ky.) tossed in 18 points off the bench, while junior, Izaya Sims (East Moline, Ill.) added 11 points.
Midway also had a couple of solid performances from sophomore, Ty Sparling (Kokomo, Ind.) and senior, Jose Bustamante (Surprise, Ariz.) with nine and eight points respectively. Senior, Gerry Milligan (West Palm Beach, Fla.) also dished out a game-high six assists in the win.
Silver Lake held their only lead on a triple from Jabriel Burnette just two minutes into the contest. Midway responded with a 9-0 run where Evans scored six of the nine points, while Sparling finished the run off with a triple from long distance to give the Eagles a 13-5 edge.
Midway's lead grew to 12 at 28-16 after Jason Gammage (Riverside, Calif.) and Kaleb Britt hit back-to-back triples with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half.
Over the next six minutes of game action, the Lakers outscored Midway 17-5 to tie the game up at 33 all with just over three minutes remaining in the first frame.
The Eagles got back-to-back buckets from Izaya Sims and Kwon Evans before getting a triple from Britt to give themselves a 40-34 lead at intermission.
The Eagles held a 5-8 point edge throughout the second half, but the Lakers made a run by cutting the deficit to three, 54-51 with nine minutes left. Midway responded with a bucket from Britt as well as a trey from Sims and another bucket from Evans stretching the lead back to nine.
The lead grew to a game-high 15 after a pair of baskets from Jose Bustamante including a long range trey from beyond the arc. The Lakers would only get as close as nine in the final four minutes as Midway would hit their freebies down the stretch to secure the 80-70 victory.
Midway forced Silver Lake into 23 turnovers and converted their miscues into an 18-4 edge in points off turnovers. The Eagles also got 25 points from their bench, while the Lakers didn't get any production from their reserves.
Midway finished the game shooting 48.3 percent (29-60) from the floor and 40.9 percent (9-22) from three, while their defense held the Lakers to just 36.9 percent (24-65) overall and 33.3 percent from three where they went 11-of-33.
Joe Krupinski's team improves to 1-1 on the season as they are back in action on Wednesday when they host Indiana University-South Bend at 7 p.m. ET inside Marshall Gymnasium.
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