PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. – Playing without All-American guard Jake Ludwig for the second consecutive Saturday, the Roosevelt men's basketball team held off a scrappy Trinity Christian squad and secured a 71-61 victory inside DeVos Gymnasium.
With Ludwig scratched by head coach Joe Griffin to give the senior extra rest to heal prior to Tuesday's CCAC Tournament opener, the shorthanded Lakers (18-12, 12-8 CCAC) needed another balanced effort to overcome the absence of their leading scorer and got just that with six different Green and White players tallying at least eight points.
Jake Asquini led Roosevelt with 16 points, connecting four times from beyond the arc and putting up 14 of those points after intermission, while Chandler Fuzak added 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Bennett Fuzak and Quin Riggins had nine points apiece, while Grant Gibson and Kevin Day pitched in eight each.
The Lakers are unofficially the fourth seed in the CCAC Tournament and will host a quarterfinal game against fifth-seeded Robert Morris (Ill.) at the Goodman Center this Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. The CCAC will make the matchup and complete bracket official shortly.
The Trolls (7-23, 3-18 CCAC) did not play like their record would indicate, getting a number of buckets from game-high scorer Terrance Lacey (22 points). TCC led by 14 at one point in the first half before Roosevelt finished the period on a 13-0 run to deadlock the contest at 33-33 heading into halftime.
The Lakers led for all but 39 seconds in the second half, using an 18-6 burst fueld by Asquini's clutch hand in the latter part of the final stanza to eventually go up double digits and keep the hosts at a comfortable length the remainder of the game.
"Our bench really picked us up tonight after we got off to a very sluggish start and couldn't guard them in the first half," Griffin said. "Our zone offense looked great in spots despite cold shooting as a team. Asquini opened it up for us in the second half and we held them to 61 points on their home floor, which is hard to do.
"We are excited for the tourney and we feel our best ball is still ahead of us."
