ROCK SPRINGS, WY - After a slow start offensively, the Laramie County Community College men's basketball team showed their resiliance on Saturday afternoon against Western Wyoming Community College to rally back and take down the Mustangs 76-72 on their home court in a pivotal Region IX North battle to close out their first trip through conference play with a 2-4 record. 

Pedro Ellery opened the game for LCCC with a pair of threes to give the Golden Eagles a 6-0 lead after three minutes and that lead held until Western Wyoming rallied to go on a 12-2 run after trailing 13-7 to take their first lead of the game. LCCC did rally back to even the game at 23 all only to see the Mustangs again lock down on defense and hold them to just four field goals the rest of the first half. 

Meanwhile, the Mustangs finished with a seven point advantage after the opening half to lead 39-32 at the break. 

The seven point lead swelled to as much as eleven in the first few minutes of the second half at 43-32 with 17 minutes to go.

LCCC began to whittle away at it over the next seven minutes and at the halfway point went on an 8-0 run of their own to not only tie the game at 56, but eventually take the lead on a Davion Butler three which put them ahead 59-56. The Mustangs would never see the lead again thanks to a stubborn defense from the Golden Eagles that held the WWCC offense to just six points over the next five minutes. 

"The one thing I never really worry about with this team is that we are going to eventually make shots. So even though they weren't falling in the first half, I knew it was going to come," Saulsberry said. "Justin, DB, Jordan, and Pedro, they know I have all of the confidence in the world that they will step up and knock it down and they did tonight."

Slowing the pace down became key down the stretch for LCCC, using the clock and keeping the Mustangs from being able to build a rhythm and at the same time limiting their fast breaks, which Saulsberry said was what had hurt them most in the first half. 

"(At halftime) I asked them if they were going to continue to let this happen or not," Saulsberry said. "We didn't make a ton of adjustments except for saying sprint back because they really got out in transition that first half. The second half, our guys did a really good job of say we're not going to give up those layups and we didn't."

Both teams struggled to score though, and a 72-68 advantage for LCCC stayed frozen on the scoreboard from the 3:22 mark of the second half until the Golden Eagles made a free throw with just 17.6 seconds left. A late three from WWCC did close the gap to 74-72 with 3.2 seconds remaining, but a turnover on the next possession gave the ball back to LCCC and a pair of free throw makes by Jordan Reed closed the scoring giving the Golden Eagles their second conference with 76-72. 

Butler's 25 point effort was a career high and led the scoring for LCCC ahead of a 19 point game from Phoenix Bullock and an 11 point effort from Pedro Ellery. Seven Golden Eagles scored in the game. 

"(Davion) really stepped up big for us tonight," Saulsberry said. "His leadership as a freshman is really coming along and when you can make the kind of big shots he made while running our offense, he did an unbelievable job tonight."

Rebounding down the stretch was key as well, and Abdullah Mahamed led both teams on the boards with 10 rebounds on the afternoon. 

"Abdullah was a big tonight. I thought he was the biggest guy on the floor tonight and I gotta hand it to him, he did an amazing job," Saulsberry added. 

For LCCC, the road trip comes to a close after nearly a month straight in opposing gyms when they return home on Friday, February 9th to face the Northwest College Trappers at Storey Gym. It is the first home game for the Golden Eagles since they took on Gillette College on January 16th. Tickets for the game and more information can be found at www.golccc.com.