McCook men defeat Kansans

Steve Towery/McCook Gazette A Northwest Kansas Tech defender (left) might just have too much to handle as McCook Community College's Lewis Diankulu looks for a scoring opportunity Wednesday night. Diankulu shared team-high honors with 21 points during the Indians' win at McCook's Peter & Dolores Graff Events Center.

McCOOK, Neb. -- The McCook Indians basketball team lead basically from start to finish, defeating Northwest Kansas Tech 85-73 on Wednesday night. The win gives the Indians a sweep over NWTC on the year and pushes their overall record to 14-11 on the year.

MCC will get back into conference action, when they travel to Laramie County, the Region IX leader, on Saturday.

MCC only trailed once during the game, which came 30 seconds into the contest.

Early on the Indians used hot shooting to get going, connecting on 6-13 from deep in the first half, including Draylan Perkins' 12 points on 4-5 shooting from beyond the 3-point line.

When McCook did miss the Indians were able to corral nine offensive boards including four from Lewis Diankulu.

MCC got up by as many as 13 in the first half and would go into the locker room ahead 34-23.

The second half saw a consistent offensive effort from the Indians, pushing their lead to as high as 15 and also never allowing the Mavericks to get closer than nine points.

The Indians finished the night with four guys in double figures, including Draylan Perkins and Lewis Diankulu finishing with 21 points each. Perkins finished the night shooting 8-11 from the field and 5-8 from deep, to go along with his 5 assists and 4 rebounds.

"We are excited to notch another in the win column last night." coach Brandon Lenhart said. "We pretty much lead from start to finish and didn't look back. It was fun to see the guys playing with passion and spirit for one another that I haven't seen on a consistent basis. If we can match that spirit and passion for the rest of the season we can do some special things.

"The two statistics that I am most proud of is 11 turnovers and 16 assists," the coach added. "We have really been sharing the basketball the last two games. If we are at our best every day, clean up a few things, and play with a collective passion and spirit than we have a chance to do great things come March 4 when our region tournament begins."

A glance at all Indian leaders Wednesday besides scoring points:

Rebounds: Shevelle Bailey 9, Mayo 8, Diankulu 8, Moore 5. Assists: Perkins 5, Moore 5. Blocked shots: Andrew Epps 2, Chinedu Okonkwo 1, Diankulu 1. Steals: Bailey 2, Mayo 1, Okonkwo 1, Brody Sharkey 1.

Eddie Reese's 23 points paced Northwest Tech while Toby Van Ry added 15.