LAMAR, Colo. – The Seward County Community College men’s basketball team got off to a slow start, but found its rhythm and posted an 86-77 triumph at Lamar Community College Sunday to earn its first win of the season.
The Saints improved to 1-4 and open Jayhawk Conference play at Cloud County Community College at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
Seward was playing the second of back-to-back games in Colorado, opening the trip with a loss at Otero on Saturday before heading to play Lamar.
It seemed as if playing consecutive games might have taken its toll on the Saints as they trailed 8-3 to kick off the contest. But Seward found its drive and turned a five-point deficit into an eight-point advantage. Mahammed Jobe led the way with nine points and Dekwon Brown, Kiku Parker and Carson Bennett each nailed three-pointers while Deven Butler added a bucket to power a 20-7 run and give SCCC a 23-15 advantage midway through the first half. The Saints held a 49-35 lead at the break.
Seward continued its strong play to start the second half and grew its lead to 20, 57-37, with over 17 minutes remaining. The Runnin’ Lopes did make a push at the end, cutting the margin to under double digits at 80-74, but Brown scored the final six points for the Saints and sealed the win.
Jobe led Seward with 22 points on 10-13 shooting from the field while Brown netted 21, Benni Kazadi scored 19 and Bennett chipped in 15 points. Jobe and Kazadi each grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Chance White had a game-high 23 points and Sean Lindsay scored 22 points for Lamar, which fell to 1-5 on the season.