Lopes Basketball Defeats Trinidad State

 The Lamar Community College men's basketball team put three in double figures and connected on 55 percent from the field to earn a 74-67 South Division win over Trinidad State Junior College on Tuesday evening at Wellness Center.

The win was the Lopes fifteenth of the season, giving the Lopes a record of 6-6 in South sub-region play and 15-10 overall.  TSJC drops to 6-6 in the South and 13-13 overall.               

"We struggled in the first half stopping their shooters, but we came out in the second half after a long talk and played well," said LCC Head Coach Serg Fenerci.

He went on to say, "We had issues on the offensive end during the entire game, so we emphasized defense during the half time break and our time-outs where our team came together to get the win."

The Lopes kept the Trojans from scoring for a six minute long stretch to secure a comfortable lead of eleven points during the last ten minutes of the game.  The Trojans then hit two key 3-pointers within the last two minutes, while Lopes went two of six from the charity stripe, working to close the gap. However, the Lopes had two more strong holds on the defensive end and hit their free throws during the finishing moments of the game to come out with the victory, 74-67.                        

It was a big inside game for the Lopes. LCC won the rebounding battle 45-24, recording 34 defensive boards. Wayne Stewart led the team with 16 boards, 22 points and 3 blocks, while Chris Lewis had 12 boards, 18 points and 5 assists. Jon Dunmyer added 11 points and 3 assists; Michael Skinner had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists; and Jerome LaNeir had 8 points and 6 boards.

TSJC's scoring leaders were Chris Williams and Yephnick Adelphonse with 23 points apiece for the game.

LCC will be on the road this weekend facing Western Nebraska on Friday night (7:30pm) and Eastern Wyoming on Saturday afternoon (4:00pm).