CHEYENNE, WY – A hot start and a hot finish were crucial for the Laramie County Community College men's basketball team as they took down Western Wyoming Community College at Storey Gym 86-76 on Friday night in a game that secured a home playoff game in next week's Region IX Tournament opening round.

It was a picture-perfect start for LCCC thanks to some sparkling defense played by the Golden Eagles who ran out to a 9-0 advantage paced by Pedro Ellery and Ejay Scroggins in the first two minutes of the game.

That lead continued to grow into the first media timeout when LCCC headed to the bench with a commanding 17-4 edge over the Mustangs.

Western Wyoming didn't fall flat though, and slowly were able to chip back into the game to close the gap to as little as five twice, once at 30-25 and again at 38-33, but LCCC seemed to always have an answer for their push back and built the lead back up to ten with an 8-3 run of their own.

The game did change in a flash going into the locker rooms for halftime after the Mustangs high back-to-back threes and seemed to have picked up some momentum, only trailing 46-42 at the break.

The momentum held true in the opening salvos of the second half when WWCC charged out in front to take their first lead on a 6-0 run to go up 48-46. From there, the two sides settled into a back and forth, trading leads through to a 55-54 Mustang advantage that suddenly ballooned to a 63-55 lead thanks in large part to a 6-0 solo run by Micah Pierce inside.

A quick switch on the lineup to get Abdullah Mahamed back onto the court shut down the inside scoring and LCCC would respond with an 11-2 run to regain the lead 66-65.

The teams found themselves tied at 71 all in the final five minutes and that was when the Golden Eagles found their mojo again. Western Wyoming would be outscored over the next two minutes 10-0, capped off by a Davion Butler three to go up 81-71 with 2:54 left in the game, and the writing was on the wall.

LCCC slowed down the pace and answered basket for basket down the stretch to close the game and pick up their fifth Region IX North win of the season 86-76.

Scroggins was the man of the night for the Golden Eagles with a game high 25 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists.

Three other LCCC players hit double figures, including 16 from Butler, 15 from Phoenix Bullock, who scored 14 of them in the opening frame, and 13 points from Jordan Reed.

LCCC also forced 20 turnovers on the night including eight steals, making up for them being outrebounded 37-29. They also held the Mustangs to 0-4 from three in the second half while going 5-11 themselves.

The win guarantees the Golden Eagles the #4 seed in the upcoming Region IX tournament and a home game next weekend at Storey Gym against either Western Wyoming or Northwest College.

The regular season isn't done though as LCCC plays host to Casper College on Saturday afternoon for the inaugural Oil and Rail Series game with the Thunderbirds. It is also sophomore night, with the men's sophomores being honored before the opening tip of their game scheduled for 4:00 pm.

More information on the game and tickets can be found at www.golccc.com.