COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – The Laramie County Community College men's basketball team nearly rallied from a 25-point second half deficit but fell 77-70 to Air Force Prep on Tuesday night.
"If there is one word, the word of the day is free throws," Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry said."We make our free throws we win that basketball game. We make our free throws we are undefeated. There's nothing I can do about that. They've got to buckle down and shoot more free throws in practice and find a way to make free throws to win some close games."
The game started out with Air Force Prep building a double-digit lead in the first four minutes to go up 13-2 and force a timeout from Saulsberry to calm the team down.
After that, the two sides settled into a rhythm and the Golden Eagles kept the Huskies to around a ten-point lead until going on a surge of their own led by Ejay Scroggins and Brandon Tchouya to trim it to 32-28 with less than three minutes remaining in the half.
Air Force Prep rallied to finish the half on a 5-0 run and went to the break up 37-28.
It seemed like déjà vu in the second half when Air Force Prep used an early rally to seemingly put LCCC away, going up 52-30 thanks to a 15-2 run keyed by three straight three pointers from Air Force Prep's Riley Shore with 15:35 left in the game.
The lead reached a high water mark of 25 a few minutes later and that marked the start of the rally for LCCC who began to press more and also saw more players getting involved in the offense. A 12-2 run with ended with LCCC down 67-60 with 3:10 remaining. Defense was key in the rally, particularly rebounding where the Golden Eagles were able to put a stronger second half effort onto the court after being outrebounded by ten in the first half they won the battle by six in the second half, and the team also shut down a few plays that were working for the Huskies.
"We talked about it before the game and I knew what they were going to run and tried to explain it to them, but sometimes you don't get it unless you are actually playing against it," Saulsberry said. "The first six minutes of that basketball game probably cost us the game."
That was the closest the Golden Eagles would get as they traded baskets on the way to the 77-70 final for the Huskies.
Tchouya led the way for LCCC in the loss with 16 points in the effort. Scroggins added 13 more and both Davion Butler and Kamrohn Roundtree finished with 10 each. Roundtree added a double-double with 10 rebounds to go along with is points.
"With the addition of Kamrohn in our starting lineup, our rebounding has gotten better," Saulsberry said after the sophomore transfer picked up 25 in the last two games for the team. "I think it just gives him confidence. Some guys play better coming off the bench and some guys play better when they are starting and these last couple of games hes been playing great. He looks like Dennis Rodman out there trying to get the ball. Hopefully he can grow from that and the team can grow from that as well."
The Golden Eagles are back in action this weekend after a short break when they take on Otero College on Friday at 3:00 pm as a part of the Region IX Crossover Tournament hosted by Northeastern Junior College. LCCC will take on the host NJC on Saturday evening at 7:00 pm to close out the tournament.
More information on the schedule and more can be found at www.golccc.com.