It was a rough night for the Lane Community College Men’s basketball team.
The Titans shot only 34% from the field in their 68-55 loss, to the visiting Clackamas Cougars Saturday night.
It was the lowest shooting percentage and points scored all season for the Titan men.
Levi Stranberg goes up for a layup against Clackamas on Jan. 21 (Photo by Eugene Johnson / The Torch)
The first half started out well for Lane (6-10, 0-4 Southern Region) as they never trailed by more than four points and kept it close throughout the half.
A basket by freshman Levi Stranberg at the 4:06 mark in the first half capped a 5-0 run for the Titans and gave them their first lead of the game.
The Cougars (8-9, 2-3) would then go on their own 5-0 run that saw them take the lead back and never relinquish it as they were up 36-34 going into the half.
Freshman Tyler Coleman led the Titans with eight points and four rebounds in the half while Stranberg chipped in six and three, respectively.
Stranberg started the second half on fire for the Titans scoring six of their first eight points.
During his scoring spree, the Titans took their only lead of the second half at the 17:28 mark, 41-40.
After a quick basket by the Cougars to put them up one, Stranberg drove to the basket and was fouled. After missing the first and making the second free throw, the game was knotted up at 42 a piece at the 15:54 mark.
“We gave them a game for 30 minutes but (we) lost our composure around the 10 minute mark,” Lane head coach Bruce Chavka said. “That was the difference in the ball game right there.”
The Cougars tightened up their defensive pressure for the rest of the game as the Titans were outscored 26-13 till the end.
Titan’s star player Coleman was held to a season low eight points, all in the first half, and well below his season average of 18 ppg. This also marked the first time that he has been scoreless in an entire half all season.
The Cougars used their height advantage to corral all the rebounds and force the Titans into difficult shots.
“We played good defense, especially in the second half,” Clackamas head coach Clif Wegner said. “My boys did a great job of using our height and length to our advantage to really clean up on the boards.”
The Titans were out-rebounded by the Cougars 47-29 and outscored on fast break and 2nd chance points 32-12.
The Titans will be looking for their first conference win when they return to action this Wednesday night against Umpqua Community College at 7:30 p.m.
