DEERFIELD, Ill. – Roosevelt tightened the screws in the second half and maintained its perch atop the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 73-54 decision over Trinity International on Saturday in Deerfield.

The Lakers (18-7, 15-2) quickly settled into a groove with an early 15-2 run that gave them a healthy lead in the first half. It felt like the Lakers were going to cruise into halftime up by double digits, but a late 8-0 push from the Trojans cut the advantage to six before Julio Montes II sank a 3-pointer with five ticks remaining in the half. Montes dropped 10 of his 15 points in the first half as Roosevelt made more than 53 percent of its shots in the first 20 minutes.

Any thought of Trinity International maintaining momentum through halftime was quickly erased by Roosevelt scoring 14 of the first 17 points in the second half. The Lakers held the Trojans to just two made field goals in the first eight minutes of the second half to allow the lead to quickly balloon over 20. The advantage was as much as 26 points deep into the second half and didn't fall below 20 until a free throw with 15 seconds left gave Roosevelt its 19-point final margin of victory.

Maurice Commander took over the second half for the Lakers on offense, scoring 13 of his 15 points over the final 20 minutes. He took just five shots in the first half, and missed all four of his 3-point attempts, but responded by sinking 4 of 7 from the field, including 3 of 5 from deep, in the second half. Yuri Swinford also dipped his toes into double figures with 11 points and Matt Myers hit double digits for the first time in eight games with 13 points.

Myers was more aggressive on offense than he's been in the past four weeks after taking 10 shots against Trinity International, the most since Dec. 29 against Madonna. The senior found his stroke early by sinking his first three 3-point attempts to help the Lakers build that early lead before missing his last three shots from behind the arc and five of his final seven attempts overall.

Chima Nwosu and Shane Stevensen each added eight points off the bench, and Nwosu also added a team-best seven rebounds and four steals. Roosevelt won the battle on the glass 34-26 and came up with 13 steals in the game. The Lakers also shared the ball really well, assisting on 75 percent of their made baskets in the game, led by six from Commander and four each from Montes and Swinford.

The Lakers will enjoy a much-needed break from the midweek conference slate before returning to the floor next Saturday at the Goodman Center against Cardinal Stritch at 3 p.m.