MCC men lose to Trinidad State at home on buzzer-beater
The McCook Community College men’s basketball led for most of the game against Trinidad State Friday at home but lost 77-75 as Trinidad’s Tayejon White hit a layup as time expired.
“Just another tough ending,” said MCC Assistant Coach Drake Henderson.
Trinidad’s Sean Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 26.6 seconds left in the game to tie the game at 75-75.
On MCC’s final offensive possessions, Henderson said they got the play they wanted with the ball in the hands of sophomore Madison Peaster (Little Rock, Ark.)
“We ran a play there at the end with the score tied and got Madison in the middle of the floor and their kid made a good play to knock it down and they ran down and made the layup,” said Henderson.
Lateef Patrick grabbed a loose ball for Trinidad State near the MCC free-throw lane with 5.8 seconds left, dribbled up the floor and elevated near the top of the 3-point line but dished it inside the left-hand lane to White who hit the game-winner.
The coach said the ending was eerily similar to a game against Western Wyoming on the last game before the holiday break when the opponent that went the length of the floor in the final seconds of overtime to secure a 79-89 win at the Region IX North/South Shootout in Sterling, Colo.
“Other than the ending, I liked our effort, we played really well and had the lead for a majority of the game,” said Henderson.
MCC shot 42.1 percent in the first half, made six of 17 3-pointers (35.3) and made eight of nine free throws as the Indians took a 46-36 lead at halftime. The lead stretched to 16 points at the 17:49 mark until the Trojans closed within about 10 points.
“They played man defense most of the first half like they do most every game and we were doing a really job against that and scoring points,” said Henderson. “So when they switched to that zone and it gave us problems and we couldn’t make enough shots to get them out of it,” said Henderson.
TSJC kept the deficit at about 10 points until the 3:57 mark when they hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to make it a 72-67 score with 3:20 remaining.
After closing the score to 72-70 Peaster hit a 3-pointer for MCC with 1:43 left to give the Indians a five -point lead. But that was the final scoring for MCC. The Trojans hit a basket with 1:13 left and Johnson hit his 3-pointer with 26.6 left to tie the game at 75-75.
“It’s happened three or four times this year that the game comes down to the wire and the ball doesn’t bounce our way,” said Henderson. “It didn’t bounce our way tonight and we’re not happy about it, but we can still turn our season around.”
TSJC shot 42.9 percent from the field, 40 percent from the arc (on 25 shots) and 63.6 percent from the line on 11 free throws.
MCC shot 42 percent for the game, made eight of 30 3-pointers (26.7 percent) and went nine-for-11 from the line (81.8 percent). MCC had a 45-36 rebound edge. The Indians turned the ball over seven times in the first half and 11 in the second half.
Peaster led MCC with 28 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Nate Coley, (Little Rock, Ark.) scored 24 points with six rebounds. Sophomore (Tavarius Vinson, Chicago, Ill.) scored 11 points with six boards and Sophomore Norris Bourne Jr. (Beaumont, Texas) grabbed six rebounds.
Trinidad State improves to 7-4 in second place in the Region IX south standings and 14-14 overall.
MCC is last among the seven teams in the standings and falls to 2-9 and 12-17 overall and will close out the season at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center Saturday at 4 p.m. Sophomores will be honored prior to the game.
Teams will be seeded and pairings will be determined following the final regular season games Saturday. First-round play-in games will take place March 7-8 at the site of the higher seeded teams. MCC will travel to the second seeded-team in the standings next weekend.
Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including livestream links, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com