Lakers Ease Past Trolls, Keep Spot Atop CCAC

CHICAGO – Roosevelt was in full control from the opening tip-off, defending the Goodman Center 85-69 against Trinity Christian on Saturday afternoon in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup.

Julio Montes II paced the Lakers (16-7, 13-2 CCAC) in scoring with 20 points as he sank 5 of 8 from behind the arc. Maurice Commander didn't have as great of a shooting night, but he still scored 16 points and dished out 10 assists while grabbing six rebounds in the victory. Yuri Swinford scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half, helping Roosevelt prevent Trinity Christian from making any late runs towards victory.

Although Roosevelt never trailed after Commander and Montes opened the game with 3s after the Trolls scored the first points of the game, it was not an overwhelmingly dominant performance. At moments, the Lakers looked the part of the top team in the CCAC and controlled the action on both ends of the floor. Yet there were several uncharacteristic mistakes as well from the Lakers, which allowed the Trolls to creep back into the game late in the second half after Roosevelt led by as many as 21 in the contest.

Yet when Trinity Christian did make its runs, Roosevelt was always ready to refocus and snuff out any momentum before it solidified. The Lakers led by double digits for the final 19:48 after Swinford hit a layup to push the nine-point halftime lead to 11. Still, Trinity Christian was able to shoot at least 50 percent from the field in both halves and finish at nearly 52 percent for the game, better than Roosevelt's 46 percent over the course of 40 minutes.

The difference in the game for Roosevelt, though, was its ability to create turnovers and turn those mistakes into points. The Lakers scored 21 points off Trinity Christian's 23 turnovers, ending the Trolls' possessions largely before they could even begin. Roosevelt's pressure clearly had an impact on Trinity Christian's ability to move the ball as it struggled at times to feed its big men on the blocks.

The Lakers jumped out to a hot start riding Montes' hot hand from behind the arc. He sank 5 of 6 from 3-point range in the first half as Roosevelt made 9 of 19 as a team in the opening 20 minutes. The Lakers made just 2 of 7 in the second half as they instead tried to feed the post with Ayo Ajiboye, Shane Stevensen and Swinford. Stevensen scored 15 points for the Lakers as a true inside-out threat, sinking all three of his two-point attempts and three of his four shots from behind the arc in the victory.

Roosevelt returns to the court Wednesday when it hosts St. Francis at the Goodman Center for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.