MCC men to face Western Nebraska in play-in game
The McCook Community College men’s basketball team will open the post-season Saturday in Scottsbluff as they take on Western Nebraska in the first-round play in games of the Region IX Tournament. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
Western Nebraska had the chance to win the Region IX South Division title this past weekend but lost to Northeastern Junior College 111-100 giving the Cougars the No. 2 seed. Trinidad State (8-4, 15-14 overall) wins Region IX South and earned a first-round bye into the Region IX tournament March 13-14 at Gillette, Wyo. WCNN finished the regular season at 7-5 in the region and 12-16 overall.
MCC finished seventh in the standings at 2-9 and 12-17 overall.
Other first-round games Saturday include No. 5 Otero (5-6, 11-15) traveling to No. 3 North Platte (7-5, 12-16) and No. 6 Northeastern (5-7, 10-19) plays at No. 4 Lamar (7-5, 9-16).
In the North Division, Gillette College (10-2, 27-3) claimed the North title and received a first-round bye and will host the tournament. First-round play in games in the North include: No. 6 Central Wyoming (4-8, 9-20) at No. 3 Northwest College (6-6, 18-11); No. 5 Laramie County (4-8, 11-19) travels to No. 4 Western Wyoming (6-6, 15-15); and No. 7 Eastern Wyoming (2-10, 6-23) plays at No. 2 Casper (10-2, 23-6). These games will all be played Saturday with the winners advancing to the regional tournament.
THE MATCHUP: MCC lost both their games to the Cougars this season.
In their first matchup Jan. 28, Western Nebraska handed an undermanned MCC squad its first home loss of the season, 102-83. With the flu-bug sidelining three MCC starters, seven healthy players battled the Cougars to a 39-39 halftime draw but Western outscored MCC 63-44 in the final 20 minutes of the game, exploding from the 3-point line with 18 makes in the game.
Da’Shawn Hall-Johnson (Bridgeport, Conn.) led MCC with 20 points, Jason Robinson (Waterbury, Conn.) added 17 points. Nate Coley, (Little Rock, Ark.) scored 16 while the Indians got 11 points each from sophomore Dave Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) and Meek Ater (sophomore, Yirol, South Sudan). Robinson led MCC on the glass with nine rebounds, Hall-Johnson had six as the Indians came up short in the rebound battle 42-40.
In the rematch in Scottsbluff on Feb. 17, the game rocked back-and-forth with MCC getting a 25-18 edge early but the Cougars taking a 41-37 half-time lead and went up 55-49 until MCC scored eight straight to take a 57-44 lead near the midway point of the second half. Western took a 68-61 lead but MCC responded to trail 74-73 with 2:27 left in the game but the Cougars closed out the game with a 10-5 advantage to secure the season sweep, 84-78.
Madison Peaster (Little Rock, Ark.) led MCC with 23 points. Norris Bourne Jr. (Beaumont, Texas) and Coley both scored 16 points. Vladimir Brkovic (Uzice, Serbia) scored 15 points and tied Bourne Jr. for team honors in rebounds with six.
THE COUGARS: Western Nebraska has posted an 8-3 mark at Cougar Palace and leads the south averaging 90.5 points per game, shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 33.1 from the 3-point line with an average of 10.4 threes per game. WNCC shoots 74.6 percent from the line averaging 23.6 attempts per game.
Four players are averaging double-digit scoring led by sophomore guard Elijan Hollins at 18.1; sophomore post Mathiang Maker 17.4 points and 7.1 rebounds; freshman guard Kellon Harris, 14.2 and sophomore point guard Elijah Burney 10.4.
THIRD TIME: McCook Community College Coach Dillon Hargrove said it will be important Saturday for MCC to control the tempo of the game.
“Western Nebraska is a team that likes to push tempo so it would benefit us to limit them scoring in the 70s or 80s and we can do that working tough on the defensive end,” said Hargrove. “They have some really good guards but they are a little smaller on the inside so we have had some success against them playing inside out,” said Hargrove.
In their two matchups, MCC has been able to establish the offense inside early, then later on in the game work shots from the outside which as also led to MCC guards being successful in driving to the rim.
“We’re working this week on our offense to help our guards to be able to get to those places where they can score,” said Hargrove.
The coach believes another key piece in the Western Nebraska offense is Maker, who is an NJCAA All-American candidate. Maker scored 19 points with 10 rebounds at McCook, but MCC limited him to 12 points and five boards in Scottsbluff.
“Defensively, the last time we played them at their place I thought we did a pretty good job containing him – really we did in both games, he got a lot of his points late in that first game but I’ve liked the way we’ve been able to limit his effectiveness against us,” said Hargrove.
The Cougars have launched 875 threes this year – 118 more than the next closest team, North Platte. WNCC outscored MCC by 39 points from the 3-point line in their first game and by 27 in the second game.
“I think the big thing for us for this third time will be communicating on the defensive end and limiting their threes while also limiting our fouls and keeping them off the line,” said Hargrove.
In their two games this season the Cougars have got to the free-throw line 63 times and made 51 (81 percent). WNCC outscored MCC at the line by six points in Game 1 and by nine points in the second game.
The winner of Saturday’s game moves on to the Region IX tournament in Gillette, Wyo. the following 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