New Year brings sense of teamwork

Recording only four wins last year, and opening this season with a 2-8 record, the Roosevelt Lakers men's basketball team hasn't given the student body much to be excited about.

That is until now.

While many of us were spending the holiday season relaxing and enjoying a much-needed break from academia, the Lakers were working hard to turn around a forgettable first semester.

"Growth, maturity and accepting our roles on the team," were major challenges head coach Joe Griffin identified in the first half of the season. Players "were wondering about how many minutes they were playing," instead of focusing on the overall success of the team, Griffin said.

After a five-game skid that ended with a heartbreaking one-point loss to Marygrove College at the 2011 Crusader Classic, the Lakers bounced back in a big way. They closed out 2011 with victories against Purdue University-North Central and Peru State College. They then rang in the New Year by getting their revenge against Marygrove and trouncing Indiana University Northwest.

Players now appear to be buying much more into the "team over me" mantra.

Despite dropping their first conference game Jan. 14 to Saint Xavier University, a resilient Lakers squad scored another big win two nights later against Trinity International University. Griffin said a key to that victory was simply executing in the final minutes.

"There have been so many times this year where we've played good in stretches – 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or a whole half – but we can't put it all together and end up losing the game," Griffin said.

With 8 minutes left in a tight game against Trinity International, Griffin called a timeout and simply told his team to "finish." They went on to outscore Trinity International 20-11. In the final 4:14, the Lakers went on a 10-2 run, finishing with a 17-point victory.

Team chemistry and consistent leadership are still works in progress, according to the head coach. Winning on the road, he says, will definitely be a focal point as the season winds down. They lost Thursday night in an away game against a hot shooting Holy Cross College, who shot over 50 percent from the field and better than 60 percent from beyond the arc.

But having already eclipsed their win total from a year ago, and playing their next three of four at Attack Athletics, where they boast a 6-3 record, the Lakers are finally giving Roosevelt students a reason to get excited.