No. 13 Lakers Punish RedHawks In Road Beatdown

GARY, Ind. – Roosevelt was in full control from the opening tip off as the 13^th-ranked Lakers thrashed Indiana Northwest 78-51 on Thursday night in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup in Gary, Ind.

The Lakers (15-2, 9-0 CCAC) scored the first five points of the game and eight of the first 10 and never looked back in one of their most complete performances of the season. Roosevelt was particularly effective on the defensive end, throttling the RedHawks offense before it could ever get going. Indiana Northwest made just 27 percent of its shots in the game, including a paltry 3 of 29 from 3-point range, as the Lakers pulled away.

After taking a 10-point lead into the intermission, Roosevelt dialed up the defensive pressure in the second half. The RedHawks made less than a quarter of their shots from the floor over the final 20 minutes and the Lakers capitalized with a 15-3 run to increase the lead to 19. A 10-0 run midway through the half was enough to put the Lakers up by 20 for good and the lead grew to as many as 29 late in the game.

Julio Montes II led the three Lakers in double figures with 18 points with Sangolay Njie chipping in 15 points and six rebounds. Malcolm Townsel returned from injury to score 13 points and grab four boards off the bench and a total of 11 Lakers found their way onto the stat sheet. Cody Mitchell led the way on the glass with nine rebounds and Forte Prater added seven boards while five of his seven points came during the initial spurt to start the game.

Roosevelt will look to continue its perfect conference record Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. when the Lakers travel to South Bend, Ind. to face Holy Cross.