CASPER, WY – The Laramie County Community College men's basketball team couldn't hold off the charge from the top seeded Casper College Thunderbirds on Friday night, falling in the Region IX Championship semifinals 85-80 in their final game of the season.

Despite the end result, Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry had nothing but positives to say for the effort his team gave.

"This teams got a lot of fight. I'm just very proud of the way they dug in, getting down at the beginning of the game, this team showed a lot of heart and they've proved it all year." 

The opening half saw the Thunderbirds open up with the momentum early with a 12-7 lead, but the Golden Eagles weren't phased as they rallied back behind a 12-5 run to take the lead at 19-17 on a Xavier McCord three.

From then, it was a back and forth first half and neither team was able to pull away by more than two possessions, with Casper College gaining the largest lead again at 35-30.

LCCC took command of the final three minutes from there to pull in front by the time the horn sounded to close the half with a 14-7 run and led 44-42 at the break.

In the second, it was a slow crawl to a game high seven-point lead for Laramie County at 68-61 at the media time out which would help Casper pull back some of the Golden Eagle momentum.

The Thunderbirds whittled away at the lead several times in the final 10 minutes but the Golden Eagles held them at bay until they tied the game at 79 all with 1:15 remaining in the semifinal.

A pair of free throws resulted in only one going down for Ben Hageman to give the Golden Eagles the 80-79 lead, but Casper answered back with two free throws of their own to regain the lead 81-80.

After missed shot by LCCC on a drive into the hoop resulted in a no call and Casper was able to secure the rebound and made two more free throws to go up 83-80 leading to a final attempt from Tristan Starks which just missed off the rim and with less than a second remaining Casper College secured the rebound and would make two more free throws to close out the win 85-80.

Saulsberry decided not to call a timeout during the final possession for LCCC and he said afterwords he wasn't second guessing the choice because of his faith in his team. 

"I let guys play. I have since I've been a coach. Tristan's made big shots for us all year. He took one, missed it, and we have to live with it."

The Laramie County offense was paced by McCord who finished with a team high 25 points, 19 of which came in the first half of play. Four Golden Eagles finished in double digits including Ben Hageman with 15, Tristan Starks with 12, and Brandon Tchouya with 11.

LCCC had trouble rebounding in the game and Casper won the battle on the boards 41-33 and had a slight advantage from three going 9-23 compared to 6-20 from the Golden Eagles. LCCC did have the advantage in the paint outscoring Casper 44-38 in the game inside.

The season ends for the Golden Eagles with a 17-12 record and they will be saying goodbye to a fantastic sophomore class, including McCord who moves on after three years in the blue and gold.

Also moving on from the regular rotation will be Hageman, Starks, and Jayden McCray. Other sophomores include James Munlyn, Jackson Jones, and Demetrius McCord.

"This team has taught me patience," Saulsberry said of the impact his sophomore class had on him. "Hopefully what they have learned from us is at Laramie County we are a family and those guys will always be a part of it."

LCCC will be hoping to return a solid core though, including Tchouya who was a standout freshman along side Jordan Reed and a pair of posts in Abdullah Mahamed and Raymond Ezeke.

"You always hope that your freshman learned from the season they had before, so hopefully these guys will learn from that when it's time to lift weights and work out. These losses hurt and burn."

The Golden Eagle's have made back-to-back semifinals despite not having a home practice facility and Saulsberry added that it wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of assistant coach DeShon Portley's dedication to the team. 

"DeShon, he was driving busses in the middle of the snow at 6 am. For what I owe him, I don't have enough. I'll never be able to repay him for our basketball team."