Hamilton went into its Greater Miami Conference game at Lakota East Tuesday night hoping to maintain the little head of steam it had built with back-to-back wins.

The Thunderhawks were hoping to start making some sense out of a muddled GMC race that had five teams – half the conference – tied for first place, all with 6-3 conference records going into the night.

Lakota East, which also had won its last two games, extended its winning streak to three with a 67-46 win.

Senior guard Stedman Lowry scored a game-high 22 points, including three 3-pointers, and senior guard Robbie Harpring added 10 for the Thunderhawks (14-4, 7-3 GMC), who went into the game planning to turn up the pressure on a Hamilton team that relied overwhelmingly on underclassmen.

“That was certainly part of our game plan,” Lakota East coach Wally Vickers said. “We wanted to pressure a lot.”

Thunderhawks sophomore center Alex White just missed a double-double, finishing with nine points and nine rebounds.

Sophomore forward Jamil Daniels scored 12 points and freshman guard A’Shon Riggins added 10 for HHS (7-10, 3-7), which started one senior, two juniors, a sophomore and a freshman.

The Thunderhawks’ aggressive defense, featuring double-teams all over the court, forced Hamilton into 12 first-half turnovers, helping Lakota East build a 22-2 advantage in points off of turnovers. Lowry scored 10 points in the first half and the Thunderhawks jumped out to a 6-0 lead and led by as many 13 points five times before settling for a 30-18 halftime lead.

“We knew they would pressure us,” Hamilton coach Tim Robinson said. “We expected that. We got a little lazy with our passing. You’ve got to want the ball when you’re pressured. That hurt us, but we’re going to keep working hard. We’ve got some season left.”

The Thunderhawks expanded their lead to as many as 22 in the second half while shooting 66.7 percent (12-of-18) from the field after halftime and 59.5 percent (25-of-42) for the game. Lakota East also enjoyed a hefty 29-17 advantage in rebounding.

HHS is scheduled to continue GMC play Friday night at Princeton. Lakota East is scheduled to travel to Colerain that same night for a conference game.