Blaine Kinsey

GoSycamores.com

In Greg Lansing's head coaching debut the Sycamore men's basketball team scored early and often en route to an 83-44 win over cross-town rival Rose-Hulman in front of 4,636 fans at Hulman Center.

“I was pretty pleased,” Lansing said. “Its nice to get another team in here from a good friend, and good team and a good coach.”

Despite being the first exhibition game of the year, the Sycamores got all production from all 14 guys on their roster and had 13 different scorers.

“They all deserved minutes and they all deserved more minutes,” Lansing said. “I tried to keep it as even as possible and get them in and out of there”

The Sycamores got the crowd into the game early with an alley-oop dunk from senior guard Jake Kelly to junior guard Dwayne Lathan to open the game.

The Sycamore offense then began to fire as they went on a 10-0 run to open the game.

The Engineers then showed signs of life when they got their first bucket of the game just before the first media time out.

However, the half belonged to the Sycamores and they went to the locker room with a 37-17 lead.

In the second half, the Sycamores put the game out of reach for the Engineers as the Sycamores scored on 18 of their first 20 possessions in the second half and went on a 38-17 run.

Riding that strong second half run the Sycamores connected for 48 percent from the floor.

The Engineers closed the gap on the Sycamores down the stretch but it was not enough as the Sycamores prevailed 83-44.

The Sycamore defense also made its presence known, forcing 17 Engineers turnovers in the game.

Lathan led the team with 14 points and five rebounds while junior forward Carl Richard scored nine points and added five rebounds of his own.

As a team, the Sycamores were also able to get a positive assist to turnover ratio with 13 assists to only seven turnovers. The team also held the Engineers to only 25 percent shooting from the field.

The Sycamores will be return to Hulman Center for their final exhibition game Saturday at 1 p.m. against the Little Giants of Wabash College.