STERLING, CO - It was a heartbreaking loss for the Laramie County Community College men's basketball team as they dropped their road game with Northeastern Junior College 87-85 on Saturday evening to close out the Region IX Crossover Classic.
The loss is the fourth straight for the Golden Eagles since their home loss to #7 Salt Lake Community College and drops the overall record to 5-9 on the season.
"I thought we still did a good job of playing on the road," Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry said. "You try to keep it close and try to win it in the end and there was a heck of a play at the end for Eddie to draw up and we didn't make the right plays to finish the game off."
The offense was cold to start the game, giving up a 9-2 run to the Plainsmen in the opening four minutes. The Golden Eagles adjusted though, and began to work the ball inside, earning trips to the foul line to get the offense going again, and they were able to take their first lead of the game at 22-20 on a Phoenix Bullock three with 7:46 to go in the first half.
Both sides traded leads from there until the Plainsmen went on another 8-0 run to get a 32-26 lead. They carried that six-point edge into the locker room at the half, leading 39-33 and looking for revenge after dropping their road game in Cheyenne.
The second half saw LCCC applying pressure to NJC early, but the Plainsmen were able to push the lead to eight in the opening five minutes as both offenses started to come to life.
LCCC trimmed it back to a three-point game at 54-53 after a 7-0 run but that would be the closest, they would get to taking the lead back from NJC as they were held at arm's length and a timely shot always seemed to be present for the home side.
"We have the offensive power to score points," Saulsberry said. "The problem is we don't have the defensive power to turn it on. We didn't get stops when we needed to get stops and we let a team that doesn't score very well score a lot of points."
With one minute to go, that changed. Davion Butler went on a tear, hitting back-to-back threes to tie the game at 80 and again at 83 after a three-point play from NJC. LCCC tied the game a third time on a layup by Andre Bennett and it seemed like the game was destined to go to overtime, but on their final possession, the Plainsmen drew up a back door lob that resulted in an alley-oop dunk to give NJC an 87-85 lead with 3.5 seconds left.
The desperation halfcourt heave by the Golden Eagles as the buzzer sounded was off the mark and LCCC was handed one of their toughest losses of the season.
LCCC was led in scoring by Butler who finished with 21, but every starter for the Golden Eagles finished in double figures, including a 19-point game from TJ Coulter and a season high 14 from Bennett who finished 6-7 from the foul line.
Brevin Phillips added 12 and Bullock, who fouled out with just over seven minutes to go, finished with 10, all coming in the first half. Saulsberry said the loss of Bullock played into the way the final minutes of the game went.
"I was trying to gamble there, and it didn't work out. I was trying to see if we could steal a few minutes (with him on the court)," he said.
The Golden Eagles were outrebounded in the game 46-23, but did finish with only six turnovers in the game while forcing 16 by the Plainsmen. Eleven of those were off of steals.
LCCC also took advantage of the foul line, going 19-22 while shooting over 41 percent from both the field and from the three-point line.
The season isn't quite done for LCCC. They will be heading south for their final three games of December with the Arizona Western Christmas Classic on deck, with games against Cochise College, Central Arizona College, and the host Matadors on the slate for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Information on streaming those games can be found at www.golccc.com.