PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- The Lake Erie men's basketball team will add two more exciting opponents to their schedule this year when they host the Lake Erie Classic from November 17th-19th. The classic will feature two NCAA Division I teams, the Youngstown State University Penguins of the Horizon League and the Utah Tech Trailblazers of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

The three-day event will kickoff on Friday, November 17th at 6:30 p.m. with Youngstown State and Utah Tech facing off at the Beeghly Center in Youngstown, Ohio. Lake Erie will then host Utah Tech on Saturday, November 18th at 2 p.m. at the Jerome T. Osborne Center in Painesville before playing Youngstown State on Sunday, November 19th at 3 p.m. at the Beeghly Center in Youngstown.

"We are thankful Coach Calhoun (Youngstown State) and Coach Judkins (Utah Tech) gave our program the opportunity to be part of this event," said Kyle Conley, Head Coach of Lake Erie men's basketball. "Hosting a DI MTE event is not something that you see happen for a team at our level. We know that we have added two tremendous opponents to an already difficult schedule, but everyone involved with Lake Erie Basketball is looking forward to the challenge."

Lake Erie finished last season with a 14-14 record (11-9 G-MAC) and made the G-MAC tournament for the first time since the 2019-20 season. Coach Conley and the Storm will look to build upon that success this year with an exciting roster full of experience and new talent.

Youngstown State comes into this season after having the most successful year in program history. The 2022-23 Horizon League Regular Season Champions finished with an overall record of 24-10 while going 15-5 in conference play. After falling just short in the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament, they earned themselves an automatic bid into the National Invitation Tournament (NIT); the first in program history.

Utah Tech completed their 2022-23 campaign with a 14-19 record and a 5-13 mark in WAC play. In the WAC tournament, the Trailblazers stunned 6th-seeded Stephen F. Austin 80-76 in an overtime victory. The win would be their first WAC tournament win in program history, having joined the conference in 2020-21.

All ticket and broadcast information for the event will be released at a later date.