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Cloud descends upon Indian victory plans
McCOOK, Neb. — A critical switch to zone defense in the second half helped the Cloud County T-Birds down the McCook Community College men Friday 84-82 in the Region IX vs. Region V shootout.
The two teams were tied at 45 at halftime, but the Indians were able to take control offensively in the second half and scored on 10 straight possessions and led by nine points with 11:44 left in the game. Cloud County switched to a zone defense and the Indians went cold scoring on only two of the next 15 possessions.
“That was frustrating that we didn’t make the adjustments but Cloud County deserved to win,” MCC Coach Brandon Lenhart said.
The Indians shot 41.7 percent from the field in the first half, made four of 10 3-point shots and 11 of 12 free throws (91.7 percent). Those numbers cooled off to 37.9 percent in the second half, 34.8 from the 3-point line and nine of 15 from the foul line (74.1 percent.)
“We shot the ball well in the first half but not in the second, we were a plus in rebounding in the first but not the second,” Lenhart said. “We fouled too much in crucial situations,”
Sophomore Peanut Cunningham (Louisville, Kent.) led MCC in scoring with 21 points and tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.
Freshman Mardrez McBride (Augusta, Ga.) scored 17 points and picked up six boards. Sophomore Ron Rice (New York, N.Y.) scored 13 points with five rebounds.
Freshman Kailee White Jr. (Henrietta, N.Y.) scored 10 points and picked up seven rebounds.
Alvin Thompson led the T-Birds with 24 points.
Cloud County won the rebound battle 47-40, turned the ball over fewer times than MCC 17-13.
Cloud County improves to 4-1 and will travel to North Platte Saturday.
The Indians, now 3-3, continue the two-day look at Region V teams hosting Garden City Community College at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.
MCC will travel to Columbus Tuesday (7:30 p.m.) to play Central Community College in the Indians’ first game in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference.
The next home game for MCC is Nov. 28 when the Indians host York College JV at 6 p.m.