Lakers Drop Home Conference Game to Tompkins Cortland, 69-57
CANANDAIGUA – Saturday's meeting between the Lakers and the Tompkins Cortland CC Panthers was a tale of two different half's.
Finger Lakes, in the home conference contest, produced 38 first half points behind 50% shooting. The hosts – who received 9 and 8 first half points respectively out of Kaleem Edwards and Richard De La Cruz – built a 38-27 halftime lead.
The Panthers – who shot 39% in the first half – would turn things around from an offensive standpoint in the final half. Trailing by 11 points heading into the final half, Tompkins Cortland would slowly creep back into the game.
The Panthers – in the second half – turned up the heat in the shooting department. In it, they outscored the Lakers – 42-19 – behind 58% shooting.
Finger Lakes – after the superb second half offensive performance of Tompkins Cortland – fell in the MSAC contest – 69-57. The loss dropped the Lakers conference record to 5-2. Both of their conference losses this year have come on the heels of the Panthers.
Tompkins Cortland – who now stands atop of the MSAC with their 6-1 conference record – was led by Tyseem Lyles game-high 22-point performance. Lyles – in the win – shot 8-16 from the floor and was a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.
The Lakers – who made just five second half field goals – were led by Will Arberry's 5-8 shooting display in the loss. In 29 minutes, the freshman forward scored a team-high 15 points.
Following Arberry in the scoring department for Finger Lakes were De La Cruz and Edwards. De La Cruz delivered 13 points while Edwards – who was 4-9 – dropped in 10 points on the afternoon. In addition to Edwards scoring, the 6'4" freshman pulled down a team-high 8 rebounds.
Pitching in with 5 points each for the Lakers were Dominique Higgins, Sean Carbonell, and Martin Young. Higgins was accountable for leading the hosts in the passing category. On the day, the Rochester, NY native passed out a game-high 6 assists in 37 minutes.
The Panthers – in addition to Lyles offensive production – received 11-point and 10-point efforts respectively out of Jaanai Beckford and Devin Redden. Beckford registered the games loan double-double. To go along with his 11 points – he tallied a game-high 10 rebounds all while collecting a game-high 3 blocks.
Finger Lakes – in its next game – will travel to Binghamton, NY where it will take on Broome CC this Wednesday (1/30). Game time is set for 8:00 p.m.