TAYLORSVILLE, UT – The Laramie County Community College men's basketball team gave up a 25-3 run in the first half of their game with #2 Salt Lake Community College and couldn't recover on the road, falling to the Bruins 123-78 on Tuesday night.

After a strong start to the game on offense for LCCC, the Bruins defense clamped down in the middle of the first half and broke the game open after LCCC had kept close with the game at 12-10 in favor of SLCC, surrendering a 15-0 run through the media timeout led by hot shooting from outside of the arc.

Phoenix Bullock ended the run with a three with the Golden Eagles trailing 27-13, but that wouldn't slow down the Bruins hot shooting with CJ Luster going four of four from deep to pace them to another 10-0 run taking control up 24 37-13.

LCCC was able to slow down the pace after the Bruins hit 50 points with six minutes to go and closed the gap with a 9-3 run down to 53-26 for the final two-minute push and the sides would trade shots going into the half down 61-30.

"I thought our defense was a little lackluster, but (Salt Lake) also made a ton of shots," Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry said. "It's hard to get back into a game on the road when a team that good is that hot."

The Bruins shot a blistering 55 percent from three in the first half, going 10-18 from deep while the Golden Eagles had their cold spell drop their percentage to just 33 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

The hot shooting for SLCC kept up in the second half as they continued to enjoy their home court advantage, pulling ahead by a game high 39 in the opening three minutes.

Unfortunately, despite pushes by the Golden Eagles in the second half, they could never close the gap and fell by a final of 123-78 for their sixth loss of the season.

"They are number two in the country for a reason. Sometimes you get hit in the mouth and it's not about how hard you get hit, it's how you get back up off the mat and this team has shown all year that they don't lose two games in a row," Saulsberry said.

LCCC got back into their usual offensive form in the second half, putting up 48 points, but Salt Lake was consistent as well taking advantage of the home court to pair two 60-point halves together for the win.

Ejay Scroggins had his best game as a Golden Eagle, scoring a career high 18 points to go with nine rebounds.

"That was great for his personal ability to help us win games. For the team it's great because he does so much off the basketball for us. Rebounding, defense, all of that stuff, so it's great to see him mix in some offense and get rewarded for all that other stuff he's doing," Saulsberry said, praising the freshman guard.

Jordan Reed also finished with 18 points and Brandon Tchouya added 12 to go with four assists.

The Bruins shot 63.4 percent from the field and Saulsberry said a lot of that can be attributed to being comfortable on their own home court.

LCCC will be back home to close out the first half of the season on Saturday when they challenge the Otero College Rattlers at 3:00 pm at Storey Gym.

"We just haven't had practice time because of the number of games we've played," Saulsberry explained as LCCC wrapped up a stretch of five games in nine days. "We'll be able to get back into the gym over the next few days and prepare for Otero."

The game is Luau Day for Laramie County Community College, and all fans who wear a Hawaiian shirt will get into the game for free. More information can be found at www.golccc.com.