YUMA, AZ – In their best defensive performance of the season, the Laramie County Community College men's basketball team took down Cochise College (9-6), snapping a four-game losing streak with the 75-67 win at the Arizona Western College Christmas Basketball Classic on Wednesday afternoon.
The defense led the way for the Golden Eagles, as they held the Apache's to just 24 points in the first half, breaking things open after a timeout with 15 minutes remaining in the first half to go on an 11-0 run that gave them a 17-8 lead thanks to a pair of Phoenix Bullock threes.
"We did a really good job of flying around and we knew that they had played a couple of games in a row, so we really wanted to try and make it physical and try to make the game fast and see if their legs could hold up," Saulsberry said.
Bullock was a key part in getting the offense firing, going 5 for 7 to open the contest.
"He did what a sophomore is supposed to do," Saulsberry said. "I thought some of our freshmen were dragging during warmups after the long trip and Phoenix did a good job of carrying us until the other guys got their legs under them."
Cochise was able to rally back to within four points at 25-21, but LCCC was able to extend the lead after Andre Bennett was fouled on a three-point shot and made all three of his attempts to push the lead back to nine at 30-21.
The big dagger of the first half came from TJ Coulter, who hit a late three to close out the half, with LCCC up double figures, leading 35-24 at the break.
Halftime adjustments were made by Cochise, and they came out swinging in the first six minutes of the second half, going on a 14-1 run as the LCCC offense struggled, going 0-10 from the field to start the final 20 minutes. Saulsberry said this was one of the first teams that had played zone against them all season, and that impacted the shot selection in the early second half.
"Sometimes when a team plays a zone you get jump shot happy and that's what we did. When you have good shooters, sometimes every look that they see they think is good. We just needed to get back to driving and kicking and see if we could move some people open. I knew (Cochise) would come back. They are a good team."
Cochise actually took the lead on the run, going up 38-36, and again at 41-39 before an 8-0 run was triggered again by Coulter's outside shooting.
"We had to either respond or not respond, and so far, this season we had not responded well and today we did a good job of responding," Saulsberry said.
LCCC wouldn't trail again in the game, slowly increasing the lead to 56-48 before another 8-0 run pushed the lead to 69-57 with two minutes to go and allowed some breathing room for the Golden Eagles.
The Apache's went into a fouling game to try and extend the contest, but Davion Butler closed it out by going 6-6 at the free throw line and the Golden Eagles finished off the 75-67 victory to kick off the three game swing in Arizona and improving the teams record to 6-9 on the season.
Bullock led the way for LCCC in scoring with 25 points, adding five rebounds as well. Coulter finished with 22 points and had three steals and six rebounds. Butler was the only other Golden Eagle to finish in double digits, scoring all eleven of his points in the second half to help close the game, and added four assists and five rebounds to his stat line.
As a team, the Golden Eagles outrebounded Cochise 33-29 and forced 10 steals in the game. They also shot better from deep, hitting 36 percent from three compared to just 23 percent from deep for the Apache's.
The Christmas Classic continues on Thursday for LCCC as they will take on Central Arizona College at 1:00 pm before closing out the road trip against the host Matadors with a 1:00 pm game on Friday afternoon.
Streaming information and more can be found at www.golccc.com.