MCC Indians triumph in league opener at home

Dave Olaniyi gets the critical putback after his second offensive rebound to give McCook Community College a late lead Tuesday against Central Community College in McCook’s Peter & Dolores Graff Events Center.

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McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook Community College men’s basketball team opened Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference play Tuesday with an 85-80 win over Central Community College at home.

“I think we played really hard the entire game and played well off our pressure defense,” said MCC Coach Dillon Hargrove. “We got some defensive to offensive possessions which allowed us to jump on them early.”

The Indians took a 43-31 lead at halftime and stretched the lead to 17 points at the 12:12 mark of the second half.

“Central is really well-coached and made some adjustments in the second half to our press,” said Hargrove.

The Raiders cut the MCC lead to 73-65 with 4:49 left to play.

Sophomore transfer Norris Bourne Jr. (Beaumont, Texas) sank a 3-pointer with 3:49 left to put MCC ahead 76-67.

A pair of free throws and a Central steal at the 3:20 mark and a layup cut the gap to 76-71.

With less than two minutes left, 5-10 sophomore transfer Dave Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) snagged a pair of offensive rebounds and his putback gave MCC an 80-73 lead.

Central hit a pair of free throws with 32.5 seconds remaining to cut the gap to 81-78 but Bourne hit four straight free throws in the final 22.9 seconds to help pad the win.

“I’m proud how we finished the game. We turned the ball over late but for the most part finished the game hard,” said Hargrove.

MCC shot 50.8 percent for the game, made 10 of 29 3-pointers (34.5 percent) and went 13 of 23 from the free-throw line (56.5 percent).

The Indians held a 31-20 rebound edge and turned the ball over 16 times.

Bourne, who came off the bench, led MCC with 18 points, making four of 11 shots from the 3-point line and four of five from the free-throw line. Sophomore transfer Madison Peaster (Little Rock, Ark.) scored 17 points.

Freshman Jason Robinson (Waterbury, Conn.) and Olaniyi both scored 14 points. Olaniyi tied for team-high honors in rebounds with six. Vladimir Brkovic (freshman, Uzice, Serbia) had six rebounds with eight points.

Central goes to 4-6 on the year.

MCC improves to 5-4 on the year with six games left in 2024.