LCCC men pull away in rout of North Platte
Dec. 1—CHEYENNE — The Laramie County Community College men's basketball team overcame a sluggish start to rout visiting North Platte 88-65 on Friday night at Storey Gym.
The Golden Eagles fell behind 6-0 over the first 2 minutes, 30 seconds. They surged ahead after the midway point of the first half and pulled away during the second.
LCCC coach DeWayne Saulsberry suspected his ballclub might start slowly after having No. 3-ranked Salt Lake rally for a 113-112 overtime victory Wednesday night.
"After you have a game like Salt Lake, you can come out really flat and not have the same excitement," LCCC coach DeWayne Saulsberrry said. "We were probably a little deflated after that game. In the second half, we turned it up a little bit, got some defensive stops, made some shots and got out in transition."
The Eagles (6-3) held a 39-27 halftime lead only to see North Platte trim that advantage to 49-40. A 20-6 outburst coming out of a timeout helped LCCC put the game out of reach. It led the Knights by as many as 24 points during the second half.
"It started on our defensive end, boxing out, blocking shots and rebounding," said freshman Davion Butler, who finished with a team-high 14 points on 3-for-5 shooting from behind the 3-point line. "We got stops and started finishing. We know we're not going to come out and make every shot, so we have to be able to play defense, get out and run.
"That's what we were able to do when we went on a big run."
The Eagles showed their first signs of life when they took a 12-10 lead and never trailed the remainder of the half. Sophomore Pedro Ellery helped stretch the lead to double digits with 3-pointers from the left and right wings on consecutive possessions. The Eagles led 33-20 after the second of those buckets, and took a 39-27 advantage into the half.
LCCC shot 41.8% from the floor on the night (33-for-79) while holding North Platte to 30.4% shooting (24-of-79).
"(North Platte was) a little bit off," Saulsberry said. "Their head coach is sick, and I'm sure that had an impact. I'm not saying we didn't do a good job defensively, but they're a different team when he's around.
"I'm really happy our guys stuck in there. I've been trying to get that percentage down all year because we're prone to give up 100 points and score 102."
The Eagles got 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists from sophomore Brandon Tchouya, while classmate Jordan Reed added 12 points, six boards and three assists. Kamrohn Roundtree came off the bench to score 10 points, grab seven rebounds and block a game-best four shots.
LCCC finished with 11 blocked shots as a team.
The win gave the Eagles a season sweep of North Platte.
"North Platte is a solid team and, last year, we couldn't even get a win against them," said Ellery, who scored nine points. "Getting two against them this year means a lot for us."
LCCC hosts McCook Community College at 4 p.m. today at Storey Gym. The Eagles won the previous meeting 87-56 on Nov. 4 in McCook, Nebraska.
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on X at @jjohnke.
