Dodge City men's basketball bounced back from a tough loss at home against #13 Indian Hills by taking down Lamar in a hard-fought battle that was secured by gritty play down the stretch as the Conquistadors won 92-87.

The Conqs hit the floor at the Hutchinson CC Classic, taking on Lamar on Friday afternoon, and grinded out their second win of the season, improving to 2-1 on the season. 

The matchup would start off slow for the Conqs, falling behind early, but nearly three and a half minutes into the contest, the Conqs would take their first lead on a Jordan Russell tip-in basket to lead 8-7. The contest would remain a five-point game or closer until the 11:30 mark of the first half, with each team owning the lead. With 11:30 left in the first half, Rickey Loftin II would split a pair of free throws to make it 24-18, and then the lead worked to a 30-21 lead with 10:41 left in the first half, marking the largest lead of the game as the Conqs were in front. Lamar went on an 11-2 run over the next three and a half minutes and tied up the game at 32-32, but the Conqs had an answer, working to a 40-33 lead and holding off Lamar to take a 48-42 lead into halftime. 

Early in the second half, the Conqs would see Lamar push back again and managed to even up the game again, tying up the contest at 51-51 with 16:35 remaining. Lamar would even grab the lead at 56-53, outscoring the Conqs 14-5 over the first five minutes of the second half, but the lead would flip back-and-forth with several ties for most of the second half. The game was tied 76-76 with just over four minutes remaining after Jayvion Nurse hit a free throw, and his second free throw gave the Conqs the lead at 77-76, but Lamar snatched the lead back on a three-pointer at 81-79 with 2:44 left. Loftin II answered with a trifecta as the Conqs regained the lead at 82-81and would not give the lead back, getting multiple clutch free throws over the final minute to secure the 92-87 victory. 

Conqs would shoot just 39.4% from the floor but go 36-45 from the free throw line while outrebounding Lamar 55-42. 

Loftin II led the Conqs, finishing with 28 points on 5-7 shooting and 17-19 from the free throw line, adding nine rebounds. Nurse had his first 20+ point performance of his career in just his third game, recording 23 points on 8-12 shooting and 6-8 from the free throw line while grabbing nine rebounds. Derrick Rivers chipped in 10 points, while Russell finished with nine points and eight rebounds. 

The Conqs will take on Southwestern Christian College on Saturday, November 8th, at the Hutchinson CC Classic to continue their non-conference slate of games as they will tip at 3:00pm.