Lopes Men’s Basketball Picks Up 2 W’s

The Runnin' Lopes Men's Basketball team had a great weekend, picking up two wins at home.

On Friday, the Lamar Community College Runnin' Lopes Men's Basketball team beat the North Platte Community College Knights 79-75 in an important National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX South Sub-Region contest.

The Knights jumped out to a 14-9 lead and led at halftime 38-36.

"We got in early foul trouble in the first half and it got us out of the flow," said LCC Head Coach Serg Fenerci.  "However, the guys who came off the bench, especially Taylor (Shepard), gave us a much needed lift in scoring and kept us in the game."

The Runnin' Lopes took a 48-41 lead to start the second half and went on to outscore the Knights 43-37 in the half for the victory.

"We started the second half with a couple of good runs (7-2, 5-1) to jump ahead.  Then our guys did a great job controlling the game.  Jon Dunmyer was huge for us in the second half and led us in scoring," Coach Fenerci mentioned. 

Jon Dunmyer led the Lopes in scoring with 25 points, followed by Taylor Shepard with 16 points.  Michael Skinner finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Lewis was one rebound shy of another double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds.

On Saturday afternoon the Lopes were able to control McCook Indians throughout the night to a big 81-75 victory.  LCC's team defense was stout all game long, holding MCC to 35% field goal shooting, and the Indians only connected on 9/33 from the three point line for a 27% clip.  LCC also did a good job of handling MCC's full court pressure by not turning the ball over as much.

"Our defense was the key to the game," said Coach Fenerci after the game.  "We knew if we could control the tempo of the game and force them to take long jumpers we would be fine."

Five players reached double digits in scoring for LCC.  Jon Dunmyer led with 28 points, followed by Taylor Shepard with 14, Chris Lewis with 12, Wayne Stewart with 10, and Michael Skinner with 10.  Chris Lewis recorded another double-double with by adding 18 rebounds to his 12 points.  Overall, it was a good shooting night for LCC; the team connected on 51% from the field, but had more trouble from the three-point line with 12%. 

The Lopes will face Otero Junior College on Tuesday night on a Pack the Gym night.  Women's tip-off is scheduled for 5:00pm, followed by the men's game at 7:00pm.

Stay up-to-date on all things LCC Athletics by visiting www.golopes.com or by following @LopesBasketball on Twitter.