Freshman Tyler Coleman scored 16 points in a 72-55 Titans victory Feb. 8 at Titan Court. (Photo by Josh Rose)
Lane’s men’s basketball team picked up a big win on Wednesday night, defeating Linn-Benton Community College 72-55, inching closer to that final playoff spot for the Southern Region.
The Titans (10-11, 4-5 Southern Region) moved within a game of the last playoff spot while knocking down the second-place Roadrunners to third, only two games behind them.
“That was a huge win for us. We played with a swag in the second half,” Head Coach Bruce Chavka said. “They quit in the second half. They didn’t want to keep playing us anymore.”
It was also good night for the Colemans.
Freshman brothers Tyler and Alex Coleman combined for 30 points and 13 rebounds to lead the way.
The Titans began the game with a 9-0 run, starting with Tyler Coleman’s three-point basket 7 seconds into the game.
The Roadrunners fought their way back into the game, taking a 17-16 lead at the 12-minute mark on a basket by guard Colton Evans.
Linn-Benton would get to their largest lead of the game at 6 points, 29-23, with 4:17 left to play in the first half.
A basket by Alex Coleman with 48 seconds left tied the game at 34-34 and allowed the two teams to go into halftime evened up.
The second half didn’t go as planned for the Titans to begin with, after a three-point basket by the Roadrunners put them up 39-36 three minutes into the half.
However, the Titans refused to yield, going on a 16-2 run over the next 5 minutes to get up 52-41 with 12 minutes left in the half.
Tyler Coleman scored 9 of his game-high 16 points during that run.
A basket by freshman Tyree Newman, 8 points and four boards in the second half, put the game out of reach for good and extended the Titan lead to 19 points, 72-53, the biggest lead of the night with 1:30 left in the game.
“Tyree is finally getting in his groove and feeling more comfortable on the court,” Chavka said. “It was good to see him play well for us.”
The Titans played exceptional defense in the second half, holding Linn-Benton to only 23 percent shooting.
They also out-rebounded the physically bigger Roadrunners 25-14 in the second half, led by seven rebounds from Alex Coleman and four from Newman.
“We’ve been preaching the motto D-R-C, which is ‘defense, rebounding, compete,’” Tyler Coleman said. “For the last few weeks we’ve been competing but when we rebound and play defense like we did tonight, we are able to win games.”
For the game, Tyler Coleman finished with 16 points and six rebounds, Alex Coleman finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, and fellow freshman Levi Strandberg finished with 15 points.
The Titans play the Chemeketa Storm on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m. in Salem and then return home to play SWOCC on Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m. Chemeketa and SWOCC hold two of the four playoff spots in the Southern Region.
“I think we’ve got a real good chance of hurting (Chemeketa’s) feelings at home,” Alex Coleman said. “We have to come out like we did tonight — fire out of the gate — and hurt their feelings.”
