Stars win battle of big men over Lake Michigan

Rich Schenck
Sports Editor

A determined Lake Michigan College (1-2 MCCAA West, 11-5 overall) was handed an 81-68 loss courtesy of the top-ranked LCC men's basketball team (2-0 MCCAA, 14-1 overall) in the Gannon Gym on Saturday, Jan 9.

But the real highlight of the night was LCC Head Coach Mike Ingram honoring sophomore Javon Haines with a commemorative ball for scoring his 1,000th point of his LCC career. 

The Stars handed LMC its second straight loss while collecting their league-high 12th win in a row.

"That's a tough team to play against," Ingram said. "They run a lot of offense and they can wear you down. They can slow the game down."

LMC used that offense to keep the Stars behind for much of the first half, only relinquishing its stranglehold on the lead just before halftime. It was LCC's first lead since 2-0.

"At halftime Coach (Ingram) told us we had to rebound and that's what we did," LCC freshman Isiah Green said. "We started going after the boards more; we knew it was going to be tough."

Redhawk 6-foot-7 sophomore center Arsenio Arrington and 6-foot-3 forward Terry Davis caused trouble on both ends of the court for LCC big men Jimmy Kodet, Kingsley Anacheluniwa and Green, notching a combined 40 points and seven blocks on the night.

"We haven't played a lot of teams with big guys," Green said. "But you know, we practice against big guys, so that's how we prepare. We work hard. That's what it is all about."

LCC came out in the second half with a renewed vigor, going on a 10-2 run to push its 43-36 halftime lead to 15.

Both teams fell into a scoring slump for roughly five minutes until LMC's Arrington was sent to the foul line, breaking a defensive deadlock with 9:30 left in the game.

LCC's big men began to impose their will on the game from that point. LMC began throwing numbers under the basket to combat Green's physical ability (11 rebounds). Kodet's three-point range (2 of 5) kept the Redhawks' defense honest on the back end.

That opened up Haines (27 points), sophomore Brian Morton (18 points) and freshman Curtis Davison (five points) to close out the game with a combination of outside jumpers and dime passes once the LMC defense was sucked in.

"I think I have some kids that haven't reached their potential yet," Ingram said.  "I think they know it and they want it to happen as soon as they get in the game. (We need to) get those guys to relax and let the game float to them."

The Stars' game against Kalamazoo Valley Community College on Jan. 13 was postponed. They were scheduled to host the in the eighth-place Grand Rapids CC (1-2 MCCAA West, 8-5 overall) Jan. 16 and play at ninth-place Kellogg CC (0-3 MCCAA West, 3-10 Overall) Wednesday, Jan. 20.