MCC men home on Saturday for Region IX play-in

Coach Jacob Brandl has directed the McCook Community College men into a Region IX home playoff game against Otero (Colo.) College at 4 p.m. Saturday.

mccindians.com

McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook Community College men’s basketball team will open the post-season at home Saturday against Otero Junior College.

The Region IX tournament play-in game starts at 4 p.m.

MCC tied for second place in the Region IX South Standings with Western Nebraska, but MCC fell to the third seed because of the first tiebreaker – the Cougars swept MCC during the regular season.

Under third-year coach Jacob Brandl, MCC went 6-6 in Region IX south play and 11-19 overall. Otero finished tied for sixth in the south at 4-7 and 13-16 overall.

In other first-round matchups from the south, seventh-seeded North Platte (3-9, 13-15) travels to Western Nebraska (6-6, 15-14) and Lamar (5-7, 10-19) travels to Northeastern Junior College (5-7, 14-14).

Top-seeded Trinidad State (12-0, 20-7) gets a first-round bye into the bracket stage of the Region IX tournament.

MCC started the Region IX South schedule 1-4 but went 5-2 in February.

“Taking care of the basketball is going to be a huge key for us. Both times we have played Otero we have had high turnover numbers,” Brandl said.

MCC split its regular-season games with Otero losing 78-64 at home on Jan. 13, the first game out of the holiday break.

At La, Junta, Colo., on Feb. 24, MCC won 93-84 on the strength of a 57.6 percent shooting night which including a nine-for-16 showing from the 3-point line.

MCC committed 17 turnovers in the 14-point home loss while the Ratters committed 10. In the win at Colorado, MCC turned the ball over 26 times compared to 10 for OJC.

MCC’s hot shooting in the win at La Junta helped MCC overcome those 26 turnovers.

However, MCC is last in field-goal percentage (42.5 percent) among the teams in the Region IX south, last in 3-point percentage (28.8 percent) and last in free-throw percentage (61.2 percent).