MCC men fall to No. 16 Indian Hills 88-73
The McCook Community College men lost to sixteenth-rated Indian Hills Community College Friday night 88-73 in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.
“We had issues guarding them tonight with our switch,” said MCC Coach Dillon Hargrove. “Their post players played pretty well.”
Six Warriors scored in double figures, led by Pepperdine transfer Taj Au-Duke with 21 points. Indian Hills shot 50 percent from the field and dominated the boards, out-rebounding the Indians 51-29.
The two teams battled to four-point game at intermission with Indian Hills leading 46-42.
“Four-point game at halftime, I thought we did okay in the first half getting to the line,” said Hargrove. MCC made 13 of 14 first-half free throws and enjoyed a 13-5 advantage from the line – but made just two free throws in the second half.
The lead changed six times in the first half, but it was the Warriors who came out with the momentum in the second half.
“We just came out flat in the second half,” said Hargrove. “We didn’t guard them.”
Indian Hills outscored MCC 42-31 in the second half. The Warriors made 32 of 64 shots from the field, made 11 of 25 shots from the 3-point line (44 percent) and went 16 of 22 from the free-throw line (72.7 percent).
MCC shot 37.3 percent from the field, made eight of 27 triples (29.6 percent) and went just two of nine from the line in the second half (22.2 percent) and finished 15-for- 23 for the game (65.2 percent).
Four Indians scored in double-figures led by sophomore Nate Coley, (Little Rock, Ark.) who scored 16 points. Djibril Diawara, (freshman, Aulnay-sous-Bois, France) added 15.
Sophomore Lukas Gudavicius, (Palanga, Lithuania) scored 14 points and led MCC with nine rebounds. Sophomore transfer Mo Diao, (Darkar, Senegal) scored 14 points.
“I just didn’t have them prepared,” said Hargrove. “We do have them again in a couple weeks at their place we just have to get ready for the next one.”
Indian Hills improves to 7-1 with their only loss coming to No. 5 Snow College last weekend.
MCC falls to 5-3 and will have a rematch with the Warriors Dec. 7 in Ottumwa, Iowa.
The Indians head south for the Thanksgiving break. For MCC’s coaching staff it will be a return home as the team will participate in the Nighthawk Classic at Hot Springs, Ark. hosted by National Park College – where Hargrove and assistants Drake Henderson and Taylor Carbonel all once coached. Hargrove and Henderson were part of the NJCAA D2 Championship team in 2024 that went 31-1.
MCC will return for one last home game before the Christmas break when they host York University JV Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.
The Indians will be on the road for the final five games in December with trips to Eastern Wyoming and Lamamie County Community College Dec. 5-6, the Indian Hills rematch Dec. 7, and then two games in the Las Vegas Tarkanian Classic in Paradise, Nevada Dec. 18-19.
Following the holiday break, the schedule will all be Region IX South games starting with a home game against North Platte Community College Jan. 10 at 4 p.m.
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