Cats Top LCCC To Start OCCAC Play 1-0
The Bobcats started OCCAC action 1-0 Wednesday night topping the Commodores of LCCC by a final score of 85-82. Sophomore transfer Jalen Barnes led all scorers with 23 points, while Tareeq Roper finished just behind Barnes with 21. Ethan Sokolowski and Anthony Cook Jr. supplied some life off the bench scoring 11 and 12 respectively.
Tareeq Roper had the hot hand in the first half leading the Bobcats with 13 points and pulling down all 5 of his rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play. Jalen Barnes finished with 11 in the 1st half helping the Bobcats to, what would turn out to be a crucial, 7 point 39-31 lead going into the break. The Cats would maintain a lead the rest of the game, but LCCC threatened multiple times. The Commodores managed to get the lead down under 4 with under 1:30 left on the clock. With just over a minute left in the game Lem Payne hit a 3 point basket from the corner to cut the Bobcat lead to 4. On the inbound Jalen Barnes was able to dribble around a bit before getting the ball to Perry Fullum who was fouled with 40 seconds left. Perry sank both free throws, the Bobcat starters were 17-17 from the free throw line on this night, and stretched the lead back to 6. After a Payne layup on the Commodore end, Anthony Cook Jr was found wide open under the basket on the inbound and was able to draw a foul while dunking it to put the Bobcats up 76-82. 76-83 after the made free throw. Rocky Houston would hit a 3 for the LCCC, but 2 more good free throws off the hand of Tareeq Roper would put the game out of reach, even with a good half court heave from Commodore leading scorer Brandon Fisher. The Bobcats finished the closely contested, high-energy game on top 85-82 and moved to 1-0 in the OCCAC. They will be back on their home court at Sister Diana Stano Arena at Ursuline College this Saturday at 6pm to take on Clark State in another OCCAC matchup. This game can be watched in its entirety on our youtube page CatTv BSCOH.
