NORTH PLATTE, NE – The Laramie County Community College men's basketball team won their opening game against North Platte Community College 74-72 on Friday night in dramatic fashion.

"It wasn't really an unbelievable win, but it was a tough win," Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry said. "It's always tough to get a win against Kevin O'Conner so it was a great game for us."

The game started out very nip-and-tuck until North Platte was able to pull ahead by double digits with less than eight minutes remaining in the first half. LCCC didn't let the Knights pull away though, stemming the tide in the final minutes and closing the half on a six-point run to make it 38-32.

"Offensively we were pretty bad the first half," Head Coach DeWayne Saulsberry said. "We just calmed down at the very end of the day and relaxed and made a few shots and saw our sophomores step up and we had more sophomores than they did."

The defense clamped down for LCCC in the second half and the team kept the Knights close for most of the half despite not being able to climb in front.

That changed in the final five minutes when the comeback came to fruition and the Golden Eagles built a lead up to seven points with five minutes remaining. NPCC took a time out and after the break they fought back to even the game again in the final two minutes.

Saulsberry let the Golden Eagles find their own way during that stretch, and he was rewarded when sophomore Jordan Reed capitalized to give the lead back to LCCC on an and-one basket on the second to last possession to put them up 72-70.

North Platte earned a pair of free throws on their next trip down the court to tie the game at 72 each but it was Reed again who drove the lane to make a go-ahead basket with just over two seconds on the clock.

"I can trust that Jordan is going to make the right play, and he can trust that I am going to give him the opportunity to make the right play," Saulsberry, who tends to let his players make the calls at the end of games, explained. "The freshman were asking me if I wanted a timeout and I said no. We play and I let Jordan do his thing."

A last second heave by the Knights fell off the side of the rim and the Golden Eagles moved on to 1-0 on the season with a dramatic win.

Reed's 13 points were tied for second on the team with Ejay Scroggins. Both were bested by Davion Butler who had 17 in his debut for the Golden Eagles. All but one Golden Eagle that played scored and only two had less than eight points in a balanced team attack.

Abdullah Mahamad led the team with eight rebounds on their way to 36 as a group and Scroggins picked up five steals and a blocked shot in the win to pump up his defensive stats.  

"What I really liked about this game is we won it without making a ton of shots. We were 1 for 17 from three in the first half. You aren't supposed to be in basketball games when you are shooting that, but our defense allowed us to be in that game."

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday when they face McCook Community College in McCook, Nebraska with the opening tip scheduled for 3:00 pm Mountain Time, 4:00 pm Central.

"It's always good to go 1-0. Now we have to get back to the hotel and rest our bodies because our next game is a tough one," Saulsberry said. "We have to go up against arguably one of the best players in the country tomorrow, so we need to enjoy this win but understand that we have a game to play tomorrow."

More information on the game can be found at www.golccc.com.