MCC men snap slide with road victory

TORRINGTON, Wyo. – The McCook Community College men snapped a 10-game losing streak Friday night downing Eastern Wyoming on the road, 75-71.

“Anytime you go on the road and get a win you feel good,” said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl, who was back traveling with the team after missing last weekend’s road trip to Utah with health issues. “Winning college basketball games on the road is tough.”

MCC got off to a slow start but and the Lancers kept a steady lead until MCC fought back in the later stages of the first half to trail by one point at intermission, 34-33.

“I’m proud of our group for fighting their runs after a bad start and getting things figured out and turned around,” Brandl said.

MCC shot 44.8 percent from the field, made just three of 18 shots from beyond the 3-point (16.7 percent) and made 20 of 30 free-throw shots.

MCC won the battle on the boards 33-30.

“We had a lot of guys step up and make plays when we needed to especially down the stretch,” Brandl said.

Eastern Wyoming hit a couple critical 3-pointers in the final three minutes to tie the game but it was MCC’s Beni Fungula (Stockholm, Sweden) who drove the lane with a basket in the final minute to put MCC in the lead for good.

“Beni had a great strong take getting downhill to win us the game,” Brandl said.

Funguala and Julian Lual (Calgary, Alberta) led the MCC offense with 22 points each. Funguala made eight of 13 shots on the night. Lual made it a double-double with a team-leading 10 rebounds. He made seven of eight 2-point field goals. Damien Perry (Wareham, Mass.) had 14 points and six rebounds

“Damien Perry and Julian were so good defensively for us all night,” Brandl said.

The Lancers finished the game shooting 42.2 percent from the floor, made eight of 27 3-pointers (28.6 percent) and nine of 15 foul shots (60 percent).

Eastern Wyoming falls to 7-5.

MCC goes to 2-11 and sweep the season series with the Lancers. MCC beat Eastern Wyoming at home Nov. 5, 79-75.

MCC continues the Wyoming swing through the Region IX north taking on Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne Saturday at 5 p.m. MCC loses out the semester schedule on the road Tuesday in Kansas against Highland Community College.