Lopes Basketball Brings Back 3 W’s from the Road
The LCC Runnin' Lopes took down three opponents during the Ambassador Classic Tournament held at Colby Community College.
On Thursday, November 5, the Lopes defeated Colorado Northwestern Community College with a final score of 100-66 to start their tournament play. They followed this win with other on Friday when they took down Sterling College with a score of 100-50.
Their toughest competition came on Saturday night, but they outscored Colby Community College 51-38 in the second half on their way to claiming the 85-82 victory to finish out the Ambassador Classic. The 85-82 triumph improves the Lopes' record to 4-1, while Colby CC suffered their first loss of the season and dropped to 4-1.
Wayne Stewart led LCC with 25 points and was 5 for 7 from behind the arc. He was followed by Chris Lewis with 11 points, and Lynrick Moxey and Jiere Morrisey with 9 points each. Michael Skinner dished out three assists. Lewis led the way on the boards with nine rebounds, followed by Isaiah Martin and Jerome LaNeir with six each. Shafeek Taylor and Michael Skinner were credited with three steals a piece.
As a team, the Lopes connected on 32 of 84 shots (38 percent) from the floor.
The Lopes initially had trouble developing consistency on offense, causing LCC to trail most of the game. However, they were able to take the lead midway through the second half. Morrisey, Skinner and Stewart provided ball-hawking defense on the perimeter, while Lewis, Martin and LaNeir worked hard on the inside.
"We struggled in the first half on what we wanted to do, but came out and caused some turnovers as Colby is a very good half-court team on offense," Coach Fenerci said. "Our shot selections in the first half were not good. However, we knew if we applied pressure early in the second half it will get us back in the game and get Colby out of their comfort zone."
Lopes will go on the road again this weekend for the Hutchinson Community College Classic. They will play two games on Friday and Saturday.
The Lopes are looking forward to their first home game of the season, which will be on Tuesday, November 17, in the Wellness Center. Tip off times for the Women's team will be at 5:00pm, followed by the Men's team at 7:00pm. Both teams will face Clarendon College from Texas.
The teams hope to have a good crowd for their first home games of the season. All fans 18 years old or under, can get into the both basketball games for free.