CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College men's basketball team survived a second race to triple digits on back-to-back nights when they outlasted Western Nebraska Community College to win 110-105 in overtime to open the home slate of games at Storey Gym on Wednesday night.
Six of the nine Golden Eagles who played scored in double digits in a win that showed off the balance LCCC is looking to bring this season.
"This is probably the most exciting team I've played on," Freshman guard Justin Daniels said. "You can look down the bench and any guy can make the same shot you can and that's what I really love about this team."
The Golden Eagles jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the first two minutes, but Western Nebraska evened the game back at ten to set the game at all square in the opening minutes.
The Cougars took their first lead of the game at 16-14 and again at 18-16 and from there would never trail the remainder of the first half, going up 32-23 by the midway point.
LCCC did calm down the offense of the Cougars and rode a push from Brandon Tchouya and Abdullah Mahamad to close the gap to 36-33 only to see WNCC roll out a 16-4 run to close the half and take a 52-37 lead into the locker rooms.
"That first half we just could not find our rhythm," Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry said. "When you play a game the night before and drive five hours, it was just a long day so I was very happy with the way they came out and competed the second half. The most important thing is we know how to grind out a basketball game."
The second half started out with both sides trading buckets but down 56-41, LCCC rolled to a 12-0 run thanks to three Pedro Ellery triples to force a Cougar timeout with 16:18 to go.
Western Nebraska was able to right the ship for the next 10 minutes but with 8 minutes to go, LCCC tied the game at 69 on a pair of Jordan Reed free throws before Justin Daniels hit a three on the next trip down to put LCCC up 72-71.
LCCC tried to pull away, but JJ Harris would prove the Cougars roadblock to that goal by hitting three straight three-pointers including on to tie the game at 86.
The teams would trade leads down the stretch and LCCC relied on Reed to make two with 12.6 seconds remaining to tie the game again at 91. A three from WNCC missed and left the Golden Eagles with 1.7 seconds to run a play but the buzzer beater from Ejay Scroggins was too long and overtime was the result.
It was Daniels who took the lead early in the overtime period, scoring nine of the first 15 points for LCCC and helping them to a 106-103 advantage with 55 seconds left.
"I kept telling myself my time is going to come and that time came, but I appreciate my teammates for keeping me going, keeping telling me my shot is going to fall, and that really got me going," Daniels said.
From there it became a matter of mathematics and the Golden Eagles kept adding to their total to pull ahead for the eventual 110-105 win.
Six Golden Eagles scored in double figures in the game led by Tchouya with a season high 26 points to go with five rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
"He finds cracks that I don't even see are there," Saulsberry said praising Tchouya. "He's really stepping up as a sophomore and that's what you want to see."
Phoenix Bullock added 19 and Daniels 11 overtime points gave him 18 in the game. Ellery was 4-7 from three for 12 points and Mahamad had a season high 13 along with five rebounds.
LCCC finished the game with 14 steals including six from Reed which is tied for second most in school history for a single game. Reed also led the team in assists with a season high six.
The Golden Eagles will have some time to rest this weekend before they return to action on the road with a trip to Lamar Community College on November 14th. They will return home on November 24th and 25th for the Thanksgiving Classic with games against Trinidad State College and Lamar Community College at Storey Gym.
Tickets and more information on those games can be found at www.golccc.com.