TORRINGTON – The Eastern Wyoming College Lancers fell behind early against the visiting Casper College Thunderbirds on Wednesday and clawed their way back into the game, but could never take a lead, falling 97-88.
“For the first game of the year, I expected some mistakes but they played well,” coach Neal Sherbeyn said. “We lost the game by turnovers and in the second half we gave up some offensive rebounds. Casper is a very good ball team… We could have played better, but I was pretty happy with the way they came out.”
Casper jumped out to an early lead, scoring five-straight to take a 13-6 advantage. The Thunderbirds continued their hot streak, building onto their lead, but the Lancers came roaring back. With just under four minutes to go in the first half, EWC trailed 46-34, but a layup at the halftime buzzer by Rhythm Ajanku cut the lead to 50-45.
“Our game plan was to run and we didn’t do a very good job at that right off the bat,” Sherbeyn said. “They forced us into a half-court game and that’s definitely their game… finally, we got the tempo to where we wanted it and that’s what changed.”
Coming out of the break, EWC continued to chip away at the Casper lead, bringing the score to 60-56 after five minutes of action. The Lancers cut the deficit to two points on multiple occasions, including at 72-70 with 9:41 to go. Despite cutting the lead to one possession on several occasions, EWC could not tie up the game or gain a lead. Casper started pulling away, growing a 90-81 lead with 1:57 remaining and went on to seal the win, 97-88.
“I’m very happy with the way they played together as a team. I really appreciate the energy on the bench,” Sherbeyn said. “We’ve got good kids… we will fight through this adversity and we will get better… it’s hard for me to sit here right now and say I’m happy with a loss… The effort those guys gave. They never gave up, they played with passion and that’s all I can ever ask.”
Walker Korell had a stellar outing for the Lancers, tallying 29 points in the win. He was 5-for-5 inside the arc and 5-for-6 from deep, as well as kicking in four free throws.
Nick Holmes was also in the double-digits in scoring, pouring in 24 points on 4-of-5 shooting from two-point land and 5-for-10 shooting from behind the arc.
Ajanku, Jonathan Morrobel and Alex Cosic chipped in nine points apiece, with Brandon Meadows and Bruno Oliveria combining for eight points.
The Lancers return to the hardwood at the Laramie County Community College Tournament his weekend in Cheyenne. EWC plays Sheridan College at 3 p.m. Friday and Northern Colorado P2P Elite at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“(We are looking for) better rhythm with our offense and setting the tone right off the bat. I tell the guys all the time, ‘don’t let them force our hand, we want to force our hand,’” Sherbeyn said. “Defensively, we almost gave up 100 points again. We definitely get to work on getting a lot tougher on defense.”
