Lasers Bottle Hawks in Conference Play   

The Santiago Canyon College men's basketball team played host to the Irvine Valley College Lasers on Wednesday in Orange Empire Conference (OEC) action. They Hawks found themselves staring down the barrel of an eight-point deficit after the first half and looked to close the gap in the final 20 minutes. Despite a valiant comeback effort, they fell short by the final score of 77-69.

The Hawks rely heavily on the deep ball, but struggled to find a rhythm tonight due to a pesky perimeter defense by the Lasers. They shot a modest 5-for-20 (25 percent) from downtown and were held to their second-lowest three-point attempts on the season. Their overall shooting percentage hovered around team average, but they failed to contend with a consistently fluid Laser offense.

Four starters landed in double digit scoring in a game that featured 12 lead changes. Sophomore guard Kai Smith paced the pack with 19 points and six rebounds. He went just 2-for-7 from beyond the arc.

Freshman Tony Colley and sophomore Chico Lopez held down the fort in spurts by each dropping 14 points. Lopez had a seven-point stretch in the final minutes of the first half to keep the Hawks in range, while Colley hit a crucial three pointer that tied the contest with under five minutes remaining. They combined for seven rebounds with Colley hauling in five of them.

Freshman guard Damien Parker chipped in a 10 piece while going 4-for-6 from the charity stripe. He had six rebounds, four assist and three steals in the process.

The Hawks bench clocked in minimal damage with three players combining for eight points on a 2-for-11 showing. The Laser's bench bucketed 34 points.