Indians top 100 points in home-court victory

The McCook Community College men’s basketball team topped the 100-point mark for the first time this season Friday in a 101-88 win at home over Laramie County Community College.

Nate Coley, 5-10 freshman guard from Little Rock, Ark. scored a game-high 31 points to lead five MCC players in double-figures. He made eight of 12 shots from the field including three of five shots from the 3-point line and made 12 of 13 free throws.

“I thought we had really good guard play tonight,” said MCC Coach Dillon Hargrove. “They controlled the tempo, made the right play and they were disciplined offensively.”

Sophomore guard Madison Peaster (Little Rock, Ark.) scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds and freshman forward Da'Shawn Hall-Johnson (Bridgeport, Conn.) scored 11 points.

Off the bench sophomore guard Dave Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) and sophomore forward Norris Bourne Jr. (Beaumont, Texas) scored 15 and 13 points. Bourne had eight rebounds and Olaniyi five.

Freshman Vladimir Brkovic (Uzice, Serbia) scored six points with three rebounds.

Laramie County took control of a tight-game with 7:41 left in the first half with a five-point lead but MCC went on a run to close out the half with a 47-38 lead and never trailed.

The Indians shot 51.2 percent from the field in the second half and 46.6 percent for the game. From the 3-point line, MCC made six of 17 attempts and went 23-for-30 from the free-throw line (76.7 percent).

“We shot it a lot better tonight and from the line we were a lot better tonight,” said Hargrove.

Laramie County shot 41.3 percent from the floor, went seven-for-25 from distance (28 percent) and made 19 of 23 free throws (82.6 percent).

The Indians won the rebound tally 45-41, turned the ball over 13 times and had 10 steals.

“We struggled on the boards last weekend but came up with a 45-41 rebound edge tonight, which isn’t a huge margin but if we’re on the plus-side there, that’s where we want to be,” said Hargrove.

The Golden Eagles turned the ball over 15 times and had five steals.

Laramie County goes to 5-6. The team was coming off a weekend where they picked up blowout wins over Region IX South Opponents Otero (86-48) and Trinidad (81-57). MCC opened the season with an 88-83 win over the Golden Eagles. These two teams will meet for a third time when they play next weekend in the opening game of the Region IX Crossover Tournament in Sterling, Colo.

MCC moves to 6-6 on the season and hosts Eastern Wyoming (2-10) Saturday at 3 p.m. These two teams met Nov. 2 in Torrington when the Lancers topped MCC 70-58.

“They got us at their place last month and we want to defend home court here,” said Hargrove. “They’re disciplined offensively and have some really good players but hopefully we can come out with the same kind of energy, same type of scoring and defend.”