Men’s Basketball – Lakers Fall to Niagara County on Road, 69-43
SANBORN, NY. – The Lakers (0-2) dropped their second consecutive game in the early portion of the 2012-13 season last night when they fell to Niagara County CC on the road – 69-43.
Tuesday's meeting between the hosts and the visiting Lakers started out with a 12-0 lead in favor of Niagara County. The Thunderwolves, who entered the game supporting a solid defense, kept FLCC scoreless for the games' first nine minutes.
Not to be outdone or discouraged – the Lakers fought back after their slow start by going on a 9-0 run – drawing the game to a 12-9 deficit with 9:22 remaining in the first half.
After FLCC reeled off nine consecutive points, the closest the Lakers would ever come to gaining a lead in the meeting was when they closed the gap to 17-16 (with 6:57 to go prior to halftime).
Niagara County would gain a bit of steam inside the final seven minutes of half number one as it went on to build a 29-20 lead at intermission.
In the remaining twenty minutes of the contest, the Thunderwolves would build a steady double digit lead – a lead that would eventually balloon into a 26-point victory for the home team.
In the losing effort, the Lakers were paced by Richard De La Cruz and his 11 points off of the bench.
Forward Sean Carbonell followed De La Cruz with a 9-point, 5-rebound, 5-steal effort for FLCC.
Adding 7 points for the Lakers as a reserve was freshman Josh Brown.
The games' scoring leader belonged to Niagara County's Isaiah Johnson. Listed as a guard, the sophomore put up a 29-point night behind 9 of 11 shooting from the field. His hot hand was on the shooting end of five made three pointers. Johnson turned in a 5 for 7 game from beyond the arc. His 29 points also came with a game-high 11 rebounds.
Adding to the Thunderwolves winning effort was Jon Marsh. The native of Bronx, NY, supplied the Thunderwolves with 12 points and five steals in the matchup.
Overall, Niagara County outshot the Lakers from the field (39.7% – 30.8%), from three-point land (35.5% – 20%), and from the free throw line (70.6% – 50%).
Rebounding went in favor of the Thunderwolves as they grabbed a team total of 50 boards in comparison to FLCC's 31.
The turnover category was very similar in terms of each team coughing up the ball. The Lakers gave the ball away 26 times while Niagara County offered it up 23 times. Points off turnovers went in favor of the Thunderwolves – 17-13.
FLCC, despite the loss, received great production out of its bench. The Lakers, of the 43 points that they scored, 29 of them came from their reserves. Overall, their bench outscored Niagara County's – 29-13.
The Lakers will now return home for their next three games – starting with a matchup tomorrow against Mohawk Valley CC. Thursday's game is expected to get underway at 8:00 p.m.