RIVERTON, WY – The Laramie County Community College men's basketball team nearly rallied from down 13 in the first half to take down Central Wyoming on the road but ran out of gas on Friday night, falling to the Rustlers 97-77 to drop to 0-3 in Region IX North action.
"We played hard and got some stops, but we just weren't able to sustain it," Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry summarized.
The first half opened with a big flurry of threes from the Rustlers to help them to an 18-9 advantage in the opening six minutes and the lead would swell to as much as 13 in the opening ten minutes.
The Golden Eagles did calm their offense down to reel the Rustlers back, closing the gap to six twice in the final five minutes. The first time at 33-27 and again after CWC had built the advantage back to 44-30 when the LCCC offense exploded for an 8-0 run to go into the half only down 44-38.
In the second half, LCCC rallied again after the Central Wyoming offense rebuilt the lead to 48-40, rimming it back to just one at 52-51 on a Pedro Ellery and one on a made three-pointer. The Golden Eagles could never quite get over the hump on that run though, and saw the Rustlers rebuild their lead to ten on a persistent inside attack with their size.
With six minutes remaining, LCCC did close it to 75-67 thanks to a pair of Justin Daniels layups. But as the script seemed to go all night, CWC responded with an answer every time to rebuild the lead to a half high 12 at 83-71.
The final minutes of the game would see Central Wyoming roll off a 14-6 run to close the game out and finish off the win as LCCC dropped to 0-3 in Region IX North action with the 97-77 final score.
"We tried to go to fast and made mistakes," Saulsberry said. "When you are on the road in a conference game against a good team, you can't make those mistakes. You can't turn it over and you can't miss free throws. That's a recipe for disaster now matter where you are playing and no matter who you are playing."
LCCC saw four in double figures for the night paced by 16 points from Ejay Scroggins, who also led the team with six rebounds.
Other Golden Eagles to reach double digits included 14 points from both Davion Butler and Justin Daniels while Ellery added 12 more.
The team tried to make up for the size mismatch inside with outside shooting, but couldn't find their range in the game, only making six out of 29 attempts. With that the Golden Eagles still finished shooting 45 percent from the field in the loss.
Saulsberry said he was still happy with how the offense worked and the shots the team was taking at the end of the day.
"Seventy-seven was plenty enough points to win. I was happy with the threes, we just have to find a way to win basketball games and as a basketball coach I've got to figure out that out and as players they've got to figure that out."
The Golden Eagles are back on the road as they finish the road swing through the northwest of Wyoming with a game against Northwest College and the Trappers.
"We have a long drive to get to Powell, so we want to get rested, get in the hotel and get our legs back and go up there and see if we can compete," Saulsberry said.
The opening tip of that game is scheduled for 6:00 pm and more information can be found online at www.golccc.com.