By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Express men's basketball team broke one of the college's oldest school records, while Shavon Gayle (Windsor Catholic Central/Windsor, Ontario, Canada) led six players in double figures in a 104-36 win over University of Akron's club team.
The Express jumped out to a 56-13 lead in the first half. The 13 points allowed broke the fewest points allowed in a half record (14), which was set on Dec. 29, 1966 against Monroe Community College out of Michigan and tied on Dec. 14, 2001 against Macomb Community College.
The 36 points allowed was also two away from the fewest points allowed in a game (34), which was also set in the 2001 game against Macomb.
The Express as a team went on a 32-2 run midway through the game. It started when they stretched a 33-11 lead at the 7:05 mark of the first half to 50-11 with 3:03 left in the half. After Akron broke the 17-0 run with a jumper from Nolan Proctor with 2:32 left in the first half, the Express then scored the game's next 15 points to take a 65-13 lead with 17:27 left in the game.
Gayle had a season-high 18 points, while chipping in eight rebounds and three steals. The freshman from Canada also produced season-highs in field goals made (7), field goals attempted (15), 3-point field goals made (2), 3-point field goals attempted (5) and minutes (26).
In addition to Gayle, the Express also got double figures in scoring from five others. While Gayle's 18 came off the bench, the Express starting lineup was led by John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.), who had 16 points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal in just 16 minutes.
Kenny Jones (Clay/South Bend, Ind) added 14 points and five rebounds, while Bikramjit Gill (Our Ascension of the Lord/Toronto, Ontario, Canada) added 13 points, seven rebounds, two steals and one block. Both were members of the starting five for the Express.
Meanwhile, Andy Bachman (North Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) added 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block and Edmond Early Jr. (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) added 11 points, three assists and two steals off the bench.
In fact, the Express bench outscored Akron's entire team 51-36.
Tony Boykins (Loy Norrix/Kalamazoo, Mich.) had a team-high 10 rebounds for the Express, and seven of them came on the offensive glass. Gayle, Bachman and Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) each had a team-high three steals, while Markese Allen (Crockett/Detroit, Mich.) had a team-high seven assists. DeVondre Peoples (Consortium/Detroit, Mich.) had a team-high two blocks.
Akron was led by Devin Cooper, who had eight points, while two others had six each.
The Express held Akron to 15-for-60 (25 percent) shooting overall, as well as 1-for-19 from 3-point range. Meanwhile, the Express finished 38-for-77 (49.4 percent) overall from the field, 9-for-27 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range and 19-for-26 (73.1 percent) from the foul line.
The Express held advantages in rebounds (57-32), turnovers (13-28), points off turnovers (38-10), second chance points (23-11), points in the paint (58-14) and bench points (51-14). Their largest lead was the final margin - 68.
Conference play begins for the Express (13-4) next week as they will host Cuyahoga Community College Jan. 15 at 5:30 p.m. in the SHAC.