LCC Men’s Basketball Update

The Lamar Community College Men’s Basketball team fell to 3-6 on the season after going 1-2 in Casper, Wyoming this past weekend.  The Lopes took on Cloud County Community College on Thursday.  It took a few minutes for the Thanksgiving Turkey to wear off as Cloud County would jump out to a 14-0 lead.  The Lopes struggled offensively in the half connecting on only 7/31 (22%) shots from the field.  Lamar’s defensive efforts kept the game within reach as they held Cloud County to just 12/34 (35%) from the field.  “The first half was a real struggle for us,” said Head Coach Adam Schwartz.  “We could not make a shot, if not for our defense the game could have gotten out of hand real quickly.” The second half started like the first one ended, Lamar’s offensive woes continued as Cloud County would extend the lead to 22 points with just under 8 minutes to go.  At that point the Lopes decided to make a game of it, picking up the defensive pressure and attacking the rim.  Lamar would cut the lead to 6 with about 2:30 to go in the game but that would be close as they got as Cloud County hit free throws down the stretch to get the 70-61 win.  “We really hurt ourselves,” said Coach Schwartz.  “We did our job defensively but offensively we still have a lot of work to do.”  For the game Lamar was 30% from the field, 20% from 3.  Kenny Peters led the team with 14 points and 6 assists.  Malcolm Brooks finished with 12 points and 4 assists.  Shore Adenekan finished with a double-double, 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Friday night the Lopes took on Colorado Northwestern Community College from Rangely, CO.  In a complete reversal of the previous night, the Lopes’ got the offense going early.  CNCC caused the Lopes to turn it over quite a bit, but when the Lopes got shots they found their way in.  Lamar would take a 33-23 advantage at halftime but turned it over 13 times in the half and gave up 7 offensive rebounds.  “We were considerably better in the first 20 minutes,” said Schwartz.  “We were really aggressive on both ends which is what we were looking for.”  The second half would prove to be a different ball game.  Lamar would find it difficult to keep possession of the ball turning it over 20 times in the half.  The defensive pressure also slacked allowing CNCC to get easy baskets and erase the 10 point advantage forcing overtime.  Lamar would outscore CNCC 9-6 in overtime to escape with the 76-73 win.  “We played much harder and were much more aggressive offensively,” said Schwartz “We had a lot of trouble taking care of the ball but were proud of our guys for continuing to compete and finding a way to win.”  The Lopes were led by Malcolm Brooks with 11 points, all of which were in the last 2 minutes of regulation and overtime.  Shore Adenekan finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds.  Drew Herig and DeAngelo Craig both finished with 10 points apiece.

Saturday night the Lopes took on the host Casper College who has been ranked as high as 13^th in the country so far this season. The first half was very competitive with the difference being offensive rebounds and turnovers.  Casper College had 7 offensive rebounds and the Lopes committed 12 turnovers in the half.  Casper led 40-32 at the break.  The second half would be much like the first.  The Lopes had a lot of trouble with the size and length of Casper College.  The Lopes would stay aggressive on both ends in the second half and cut the lead to 3 with about 8 minutes to go.  Casper would get some timely offensive rebounds and force some Lamar turnovers to push the lead back to double digits and get the win 84-68.  Lamar was led by Malcolm Brooks with 18 points.  Kenny Peters would finish with 11 points and 7 re bounds and Shore Adenekan would contribute 10 points and 6 rebounds.

“I was very proud of our kids after this weekend,” Said Coach Schwartz.  “We have faced a very tough schedule against quality opponents and 8 of 9 on the road.”  “We have been improving little by little so far, and we took a giant step forward this weekend in Casper.  Our kids played extremely hard and competed all 3 nights,” said Coach Schwartz “We now know how hard we have to play and can now focus on correcting our mistakes.”

The Lamar Community College Runnin Lopes’ return home for their first home games since November 8.  Lamar will host the Lamar Classic on December 2 and 3 with Otero Junior College facing Frank Phillips College at 3:30pm and Lamar facing TAAG Academy at 7:30pm on Friday.  Otero will face TAAG Academy at 3:30pm with Lamar facing Frank Phillips at 7:30pm on Saturday.

Chloe-Ana Dorris
Wellness Center Director
Lamar Community College
2401 S. Main
(719)336-1678/ (719)688-7847
www.lamarcc.edu