McCOOK, NE – A strong start couldn't hold up as the Laramie County Community College men's basketball team dropped their road contest with McCook Community College 101-88 on Friday night.
"We are playing up and down to our competition," Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry said. "You can't come out and play like you did against Salt Lake and then turn around and not put the same performance in against McCook. Not that they are a bad team, they aren't. I have to do a better job of getting these guys off of the bus ready to play."
After a quick few shots from the Indians, LCCC was able to bounce back to find their footing and proceeded to take their first lead at 8-6, building up the lead in a physical back and forth opening 12 minutes that had them get the lead to five, 22-17 after the under-eight media timeout.
McCook was the next to respond, and their defense kept the Golden Eagles scoreless for the next two and a half minutes while not only capturing the lead but going on a 14-0 run until a Davion Bulter driving layup ended the skid for LCCC.
"We still don't know how to play on the road," Saulsberry said adding the energy is what kept McCook in the game early on, allowing for the run. "There was no enthusiasm on the defensive end for the first ten minutes."
While the Golden Eagles were able to level out for the final five minutes, ever surge was countered by a McCook basket and the Indians took a 47-38 lead into the halftime break.
LCCC came out strong in the first two minutes of the second half, closing the gap to three with 18:15 to go at 49-46 thanks to an 8-2 run only to see McCook rally to push the lead up to double digits for the first time with an 11-4 run to take a 60-50 lead.
That set the tone for the rest of the second half. It was marked by runs from the Golden Eagles to trim into the deficit, getting as close as 64-60 with twelve minutes to go only to see another run from McCook push the gap back to 72-60 two minutes later.
"Our whole season has been really high highs and then really low lows. I haven't found six or seven guys that consistently compete. We have about four right now and, yes, the runs are nice, but you shouldn't have to need those runs," Saulsberry said.
McCook's high-water mark came at the four-minute mark when the lead maxed out at 17, 89-72. The media timeout sparked a Golden Eagle rally that closed the gap to ten with 1:41 to go, and despite the offense continuing to make shots down the stretch, the Indians made their free throws and finished off the win 101-88 to hand LCCC their second straight loss on the season, dropping them to 5-6 on the year.
The team was paced by an impressive performance from TJ Coulter as the freshman guard finished with 24 points and nine rebounds, adding another four blocks and leading the team in assists with three.
Bulter added 20 points, 16 of them in the second half, on 8-14 shooting and fellow sophomore Phoenix Bullock finished with 19, going an impressive 10-14 from the foul line while also collecting nine rebounds.
As a team, LCCC shot 41 percent from the field and 82.6 percent from the foul line in one of their better performances from the charity stripe this year.
Unfortunately, McCook countered by winning both the rebounding battle (45-38) and the turnover battle (13-16) while also shooting just under 50 percent from the field.
"They did a good job of going down hill and driving on us. Our big didn't step up and challenge when our guards got beat and our guards can't get beat that easy. We have to figure out a way," Saulsberry said.
The loss moves the LCCC record to 5-6 and is their second of the season to McCook Community College.
LCCC will get another shot against the Indians on December 13th when they face them in the Region IX Crossover in Sterling, Colorado. That game will be the opening game of the crossover, with tip time scheduled for 10:00 am.
Prior to that, the Golden Eagles will round out this weekend's trip through Nebraska with a game against the North Platte Community College Knights. The Golden Eagles defeated them 77-75 the first time they matched up at the Blue FCU RAC. Opening trip from North Platte, NE is scheduled for 2:00 pm MST.
More information on these games can be found at www.golccc.com.