Cougars win overtime thriller, drop next two

The Lassen College Cougars hit the road again to head to Ukiah, CA to participate in the Mendocino College tournament. The Cougars fought injury and illness all weekend and came away with one win and two losses.

To open the tournament, the Cougars took on the host team, Mendocino College. Lassen came out lethargic, and the Eagles jumped out to an early 13-point lead. As the momentum seemed to go all on Mendocino's side, the Cougars woke up and went into halftime only down three. Lassen continued to play solid basketball in the second half and found themselves in the as time was running out in regulation. The Eagles made some big plays down the stretch and were able to send the game into overtime. However, the Cougars were able to keep their poise, and they came away with the victory, 88-86.

Nathan Smothers led the Cougars in scoring with 19 points, which included five three-pointers.

On the second day of the tournament, the Cougars took on GVC rivals, College of the Siskiyous. Both teams' defenses came out ready to compete, holding each other to only 10 points midway through the first half. Siskiouus offense was able to wake up first and took the lead into halftime. Lassen found themselves down by as many as 25 points, but mounted an incredible comeback that had them full just short, 60-63.

Shelton Taylor led Lassen in scoring with 14 points, followed by Cole Rutherford with 11 points. 

On the final day of the tournament, Lassen found themselves up against another GVC opponent, state-ranked College of the Redwoods. It was an extremely competitive game that had the Cougars fall short due to a lack of shot-making. Redwoods came away with the win 55-72.

Trey Wilmot was the Cougar's leading scorer with 10 points.

"I am proud of how the guys battled all weekend. We weren't able to have a full practice all week, and I believe that showed with our lack of offensive efficiency. We missed a lot of shots we normally make, which makes me optimistic even though we lost some games," said Lassen Coach Will Freedman.

Next up for the Cougars is a home game against state-ranked Yuba college.