MCC’s Hargrove gets 100th win in Arkansas
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – It was a successful homecoming in Arkansas for four members of the McCook Community College men’s basketball team as the Indians downed Southwest Tennessee 90-83 Friday. It was Coach Dillon Hargrove’s 100th career win and it came in the opening game of the National Park College Nighthawk Classic.
The win came in “The Kettle,” where Hargrove and assistant Drake Henderson were part of the D2 National Championship in 2024. First-year MCC assistant Taylor Carbonel also once coached at National Park.
“It’s been a fun trip for us, coming back to where our coaching staff started,” said Henderson, in his second year as Hargrove’s assistant at MCC. “And a pretty cool experience, this being Coach Hargrove’s 100th career win.”
While at NPC, Hargrove compiled an 82-27 coaching record while leading the Nighthawks to Region II regular season championships their final two years and a program best 31-1 record during the 2023-24 campaign. He won 75.2 percent of his games at National Park College.
Hargrove took over as coach of the MCC men’s basketball program in June of 2024 and the team went 12-19 in his first year coaching the team and is now 6-3 this season to bring his career coaching record 100-49 (a .671 winning percentage.
MCC sophomore Nate Coley, (Little Rock, Ark.) also had a successful return to his home state with a 24-point performance as the Indians came back from 10 points down in the first half and held off the D1 team from Memphis in the later stages of Friday’s game.
Freshman Djibril Diawara, (Aulnay-sous-Bois, France) hit a pair of early 3-pointers to stake MCC to a 6-0 lead and hit five 3-pointers in the first half as MCC came back to lead at halftime 45-37. He hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 1:20 of the first half.
“I’m proud of how our guys adjusted,” said Henderson. “This was a good team win today. They were a very physical team. “They play a little different than any team we’ve seen this year, so it took us a little bit to get used to their physicality.”
The Saluqis came back to take a 67-66 lead with 7:36 left in the game but MCC responded each time the Tennessee team went on a roll. Diawara hit a 3-pointer with 6:29 left in the game to give MCC its final lead of the game 70-67.
Diawara led MCC with 25 points and hit seven 3-pointers and helped close out the game, going seven-for-seven at the free-throw line – all in the second half. Coley went eight-for nine from the line as MCC made 18 of 20 free throws (90 percent) in the game.
Sophomore Lukas Gudavicius, (Palanga, Lithuania) scored 13 points and freshman Sofiane Benragba, (Montpellier, France) contributed 12 points off the bench.
After winning their first game of the season, Southwest Tennessee goes to 1-5 on the season.
MCC will take on Royal Ambassadors at 2 p.m. The Lions are a post-graduate program headquartered in Jackson, Tenn.
“We’re going to rest up for tomorrow and try to finish this trip 2-0,” said Henderson.
MCC will return for one last home game before the Christmas break when they host York University JV Tuesday at 7 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