MCC men stun No. 1 seed at Region IX

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The McCook Community College men came from nine points down in the first half to clip top-seeded Laramie County Community College Thursday on their home court to advance to the semi-finals of the Region IX Tournament Friday.

“This was very special for our program tonight,” said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl. According to his record books, the MCC men haven’t won a second-round game since at least 2004.

“We have a group that is locked in and hungry -- which is good because we play the defending champs tomorrow and if you want to be the champ you have to beat the champs,” Brandl said. “It will be a good test for us.”

The Indians, 14-9, will take on Western Wyoming (15-6) at 7 p.m. (MT) Friday in the second semi-final of the day. The Mustangs were the No. 3 seed in the north and downed Otero Junior College Thursday, 77-70. The Rattlers were the second seed in the south.

In other second-round Region IX Tournament action Thursday it was No. 2 north seed Eastern Wyoming 74, Lamar (No. 3 south) 63. South top seed Northeastern Junior College downed Casper (No. 4 north) 84-68. Eastern Wyoming and NJC will play the first semi-final Friday starting at 5 p.m. (MT.)

On Thursday, Laramie County came into the game as the top seed in the north with an 8-2 record in the north division, but 11-11 overall, and opened the game on a 27-14 run over the Indians, the fourth seed in the south. MCC cut the deficit to 40-31 at the half.

“This game was definitely a game of two halves,” Brandl said. “I thought they came out and hit us hard right away and we weren’t ready. Once we settled down and started executing our game plan the game definitely changed.”

It was the Indians McCook who opened the second half with an 11-5 run and went on to outscored LCCC 58-42 in the second half. The Tribe made 18 of 27 second-half shots (66.7 percent) and made 82.6 percent of its 23 second-half free throws.

“We had a lot of guys give us give us great minutes out there. Julian Lual looked like a pro and was a tough matchup for them,” Brandl said.

Lual, a freshman from Calgary, Alberta, led MCC with 24 points on an 11-for-15 shooting night along with five rebounds and two blocked shots. Damien Perry (Wareham, Mass.) a sophomore transfer from Laramie County CC scorched his former team for 20 points.

William Lee (freshman, Queens, N.Y. / Blue Ridge School (St. George, Va.) came off the bench to score 16 points and sophomore Rahkiem Petterson (Midland, Texas) led all players with 13 rebounds to go along with 12 points.

“Rahkiem Petterson was an absolute warrior,” Brandl said. “The guy had a tough double-double and our two point guards Damien Perry and Will Lee just lead us tonight. They were tough.”

MCC shot 54.2 percent from the field, made five of 15 3-pointers, and made 20 of 27 shots from the free-throw line (74.1 percent)

LCCC shot 52.5 percent from the field, made 11 of 23 shots from beyond the 3-point line (47.8 percent) and nine of 13 free throws (69.2 percent).

The Indians claimed the rebound edge, 34-28.