Indians pick up 10th win in sweep over LCCC
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The McCook Community College men’s basketball team picked up their 10th win of the season Saturday topping Laramie County Community College 88-79.
Sophomore Mo Diao, (Darkar, Senegal) and freshman Alier Alier (Bor, South Sudan) muscled in 10 points in the final six minutes of the game and sophomore Nate Coley, (Little Rock, Ark.) made six of six free throws in the final 3:13 of the game as the Indians broke up a tight game down the stretch.
“This was a great team win tonight in a really tough environment,” said MCC Assistant Coach Drake Henderson. “It took every one of our guys to win this one.”
The two teams stayed within a few points of each other for most of the first half. LCCC took their largest lead of the game with 7:32 left in the half but MCC held a 39-38 halftime lead. The Indians stretched the lead to 58-53 at the 13:00 mark of the second half and led 62-53 at the 11:46 mark, but the Golden Eagles closed the game to 70-68 with 5:25 left in the game before the Indians ended the game on an 18-8 advantage. LCCC hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the game.
“We’re really proud of how we played a full 40 minutes,” said Henderson. “Laramie is really talented, especially offensively, they go on multiple runs, I’m proud of how our guys were able to extinguish those runs and keep playing hard.”
MCC improves to 10-3 and completes a 6-0 record over teams from the Region IX North Division. That includes home-and-home sweep over Eastern Wyoming and Laramie County as well as a pair of wins in the Battle For The Boot Tournament last month in Twin Falls, Idaho over Casper and Western Wyoming.
“Just really proud of our guys coming together to win a tough road game against another Region 9 opponent,” said Henderson.
Diao led MCC with 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He went 11 of 17 from the field. Coley chipped in 21 points and made all six of his free throws. Alier scored 16 points with eight boards.
“Mo Diao had a fantastic game for us, probably his best of the year so far,” said Henderson. “And Nate Coley and Alier Alier made huge plays down the stretch.”
Sophomore Lukas Gudavicius, (Palanga, Lithuania) and freshman Djibril Diawara (Aulnay-sous-Bois, France) both dished out six assists with Gudavicius scoring 11 points and claiming six rebounds while Diawara scored seven points. Sofiane Benragba (freshman, Montpellier, France) scored nine points and had six boards.
MCC shot 61 percent from the field, made three of 10 shots from the 3-point arc, and went 13 of 19 from the free-throw line (68.4 percent). MCC had a 39-24 rebounding edge.
LCCC shot 46 percent from the field, made nine of 30 triples (30 percent) and went 12 of 17 from the line (70.6 percent).
The Golden Eagles go to 5-6.
Next up MCC travels to Ottumwa, Iowa for a rematch with No. 9 Indian Hills Community College (8-1) Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Warriors topped MCC 88-73 Nov. 21 in McCook.
“This five-game stretch has been really good for us,” said Henderson. “We’re going to come back and rest up and get ready for a trip to Iowa to face a really good Indian Hills team.”
The Indians will wrap up the non-conference schedule with a pair of games Dec. 18-19 in the Las Vegas Tarkanian Classic taking on No. 2 Snow College (8-0) and Salt Lake Community College (4-6).
Up-to-date information about MCC men’s basketball including livestream links for home games, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com