Lopes Overcome Eastern Wyoming in Overtime
The Lopes visited Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington for their second road game of the weekend. LCC defeated the EWC Lancers in overtime with a score of 79-76 on that Saturday afternoon.
The game started out sluggish for the both sides, but later picked up. Both teams exchanged several of runs, with EWC going into half with a 37-36 lead.
In the first half of the game, the Lancers shot 7 for 15 from behind the arc while Lopes only shot 0 for 2.
"We knew they had several good shooters and they came out firing in the first half because of our poor execution on the defensive end and careless shot selection on the offensive end," noted LCC Head Coach Serg Fenerci.
The game continued in the same fashion during the second half until EWC got a 10 point lead with ten minutes left on the clock. However, Lopes put together a great defensive stand for five minutes and held EWC to only 2 points while scoring 14 themselves. This run gave LCC the lead with five minutes to go in the game. The two teams exchanged buckets for the rest of the game and were deadlocked at the end of the regulation, 74-74.
The Lopes had yet another great defensive stand in overtime by limiting the Lancers to only 2 points and 1 offensive rebound. Lopes had struggled offensively too, but still scored enough points to seal the win on the road, 79-76.
"Having back-to-back games in two days on the road is always the toughest challenge in our region. However, our guys did a tremendous job completing the task on the road," Coach Fenerci said.
Chris Lewis had a career night and led the Lopes in scoring with 25 points next to his 12 rebounds. Lewis had four of his teammates join him in double-figure scoring: Michael Skinner had 18 points and 7 rebounds, Taylor Shepard had 12 points, Jerome Laneir had 11 points and 8 rebounds, and Wayne Stewart chipped in with 10 points.
With two wins on the road, Lopes improved to 17-10 overall and 8-6 in the Region IX South sub region play. After the results of the games around the region, the Lopes were tied with Laramie County for the third place as both teams have 8-6, however the Lopes defeated LCCC at home a few weeks ago to take the tie breaker.
Otero Junior College currently leads the Region IX Men's Basketball South with a record of 12-1 in the sub-region. North Platte sits in second with a record of 8-5, Lamar in third with 8-6, and then Laramie County also with 8-6.
Lopes will face Laramie County Community College on Wednesday, February 17, on the road in a crucial Region IX South contest. The game will start at 7:00pm in Cheyenne, Wyoming.