Lakers Fall on the Road in First Conference Game of 2012-13 Season to TC3
DRYDEN, NY. – The Lakers, in their first game in a calendar month, kicked off the conference schedule portion of their season on Tuesday by falling to the Tompkins Cortland CC Panthers on the road, 75-56. The Panthers, who were riding a four-game winning streak heading into last night's contest, picked up their fifth consecutive win thanks to a solid shooting night from the field.
Tompkins Cortland, who outscored Finger Lakes 34-24 in the first half and 41-32 in the second half, shot 51% from the field as a team. In addition, they shot 44% from three-point land.
Pacing the hosts in the win with a game-high 19 points was Tyseem Lyles. His 19 points came off 8-16 shooting from the field. Lyles was one of three Panthers who reached double figures in scoring.
Contributing with 14-point and 11-point efforts respectively for Tompkins Cortland were Laszlo Hajnoczi and Jaanai Beckford. Hajnoczi, who shot 6-13 from the field, delivered his 14 points off of the bench. In addition to his 11 points, Beckford pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Coming in off of the pine and chipping in with a game-high 8 assists for the Panthers was Todd Smith.
The Lakers, despite falling, received a pair of double-digit scoring efforts out of two of their players, led by Martin Young's 15 points. On a night where Finger Lakes struggled from the court in the shooting department, Young was an impressive 5-8 from the field. Each of his 15 points was delivered off of the bench.
Lakers sophomore Richard De La Cruz contributed 13 points in 32 minutes worth of action. With his 13 points, the forward has now reached the double figure plateau ten times this season.
In addition to the scoring efforts of Young and De La Cruz, Finger Lakes received 9-point and 8-point nights respectively out of Sean Carbonell and Kaleem Edwards. Carbonell, to add to his scoring, recorded a team-high 10 rebounds.
The Lakers, in their next contest, will host conference foes Broome CC. That game, which is scheduled to take place tomorrow at Putt Moore Court, will tip off at 8:00 p.m.