CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College men's basketball team picked up their ninth win of the season 95-80 over Real Salt Lake Academy on Saturday afternoon at Storey Gymnasium.
The Golden Eagles were led by Xavier McCord early, and it was Jordan Reed who closed out the game late in a balanced effort that saw every member of the team take the court.
"To be able to get a win tonight, to get us back on the winning side of things this semester, it was good," Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry said.
"When you're playing a team like these guys you just have to keep plugging away and them make some shots at the end and that's what we did," Saulsberry said.
After falling behind early at 10-7, the Golden Eagles picked up five straight points to take a lead they would relinquish the rest of the way with 16 minutes remaining.
The lead continued to balloon in the first half, rising to as much as nine by the half with Laramie County leading 42-33 into the break.
Both offenses took off in the second half but it was Reed who stole the show, breaking the game open in the middle of the period when he ripped off five straight three-point baskets mixed in with a dunk on a breakway to open the Golden Eagle lead to 25 with 9:50 remaining.
"Coach is constantly telling me to be aggressive," Reed said of the run, "So my biggest thing was to be aggressive and try and stretch the lead up."
Saulsberry was able to go deep into his bench at that point and while Real Salt Lake did make an effort to cut into the lead against the subs, the game was too far out of reach and LCCC was able to coast to their first win of 2023.
Reed finished the night with his second straight game with 23 points, matching a career high while going 6 of 12 from beyond the arc. Reed credited his teammates finding him for the success.
"I'm feeling more confident and I feel like my team is looking for me a lot so it's giving me the ability to have these high scoring games."
Three other Golden Eagles finished in double digits, led by another double-double from Xavier McCord with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Tristan Starks finished with 16 points and Brandon Tchouya quietly had 12. All told, 11 of the 12 Laramie County players who entered the game finished with points.
The three-pointer was a big part of the win and Laramie County went 13-28 from deep for one of their best group shooting nights of the year and Saulsberry said getting in the gym to put up shots this week was starting to show.
"We've been able to get into the gym and get some shots up and those guys are looking for each other. This team really does a good job of being excited when other people score and we are really going to need that going forward."
It was also one of the best games passing the ball for LCCC. As a team, they had 19 assists to only 11 turnovers.
The Golden Eagle will hope to carry this momentum onto the road on Tuesday when they take on Trinidad State Junior College in Trinidad, Colorado. Opening tip of the game is scheduled for 7:00 pm. Information on viewing the game can be found at www.golccc.com.