Lakers Find Second Gear, Race Past Saints

CHICAGO – Roosevelt heated up at the end of the first half at the Goodman Center to cruise past Holy Cross 69-54 on Tuesday in the team's first Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup of the season.

The Lakers (5-1, 1-0 CCAC) were in a rock fight for the first 14 minutes of the game when they called timeout holding a slim 14-12 lead. The break seemed to revitalize Roosevelt, which made five of its next seven shots to help grow the lead to 28-17 at halftime. Roosevelt shot just 36.7 percent from the field in the first half, but limited the Saints to only 6 of 34 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

The momentum from the end of the first half carried over into the second and the Lakers scored 11 straight points to open the half. When the Saints finally scored in the second half, it ended a 19-0 run for Roosevelt that spanned 8:28 over the course of the two halves. Although the Lakers never extended their lead past 22 points in the second half, it took Holy Cross until a 3-pointer with 23 seconds to cut the lead below 16.

Roosevelt had an off-character shooting night from behind the arc as open looks didn't always fall through the rim. The Lakers made just six of their 21 attempts from 3-point range, but made up for it with a 36-24 edge in points in the paint. Cody Mitchell and Sangolay Njie played a major role in that as rim protectors on defense, but Malcolm Townsel also added three blocks to aid in the effort.

Forte Prater was the consistent scoring option for the Lakers with 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting in the game while also adding five rebounds. Julio Montes II gutted his way to 14 points in the game and Townsel added 13 on 5 of 8 shooting for the Lakers. Mitchell finished with eight points and eight rebounds with a strong second half after getting into foul trouble. Njie picked up the rope for his teammate with six points and eight boards in the first half on the way to eight points and nine rebounds in the game.

Roosevelt will head to Joliet after Thanksgiving for two games at the Fighting Saints Thanksgiving Classic hosted by CCAC rival St. Francis. The Lakers will play Saturday night at 8 p.m. against United International College, then face No. 14 St. Thomas at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.