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Indians rattle Lamar Lopes on Sophomore Day
McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook Community College men closed out region play Saturday with a 77-72 win in what MCC Coach Brandon Lenhart called the best game of the season for his team.
“Defense and rebounding,” Lenhart said. “That’s the only way to look at it, we shot 43 percent from the field and 17 percent from the 3-point line… defense and rebounding.”
MCC recognized six sophomores including: Peanut Cunningham (Louisville, Kent.), Ron Rice (New York, N.Y.), AV Banks (Portageville, Mo.), Amadou Dieye (Senegal), Antonije Petrovic (Pancevo, Serbia) and Andy White, (Wareham, Mass.).
“I thought that we kind of rattled them offensively, we were disruptive,” Lenhart said.
MCC forced 21 Lamar turnovers including 12 in the first half which contributed to a sluggish start from both teams as the Runnin’ Lopes held a 28-25 lead after 20 minutes.
After MCC shot just 28.6 percent from the field in the first half and made two of 14 3-pointers (14.3 percent) but it was a different story in the second half as the Indian defense opened up the offense.
“They always say shots are going to come with your defense, rebounds and toughness,” Lenhart said.
The Indians shot 57.7 percent from the field in the second half to bring the game total to 42.6 percent.
“Peanut gave us a nice lift tonight,” Lenhart said of his sophomore who led MCC with 23 points.
Freshman Tyrek Battle-Holley (Jersey City, N.J.) chipped in 21 and redshirt sophomore Banks scored 13.
“We did a good job of getting to free-throw line and shot 26 free throws in the second half compared to their four,” Lenhart said.
For the game MCC was 27 for 36 (75 percent) including a nine-for-10 night at the line from Banks, nine of 13 from Battle-Holley and five for seven from Cunningham, who also brought down a team-high six rebounds.
Lamar shot 45.6 percent from the field, 40.9 percent from distance (nine of 22) and 11 of 16 from the line.
“This was the best us all year long especially in that second half,” Lenhart said.
Lamar falls to 16-17 overall and 4-8 in the South Sub-Region.
The Indians improve 11-17 overall and 3-9 in South Sub-Region play and have gained the eighth seed and will play the second seed on the road (either Western Nebraska or North Platte) this weekend. Seeding and matchups will be announced following the conclusion of this weekend’s games and any makeups.
Despite the disappointing showing in region play, MCC is 3-1 in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference and can gain a share of the NCCAC title (with 5-1 North Platte) by winning its final two games Tuesday and Wednesday.
The MCC men were to travel to Beatrice Monday but that has been moved to Tuesday at 6 p.m.