Cougars come back with late surge to upend Indians 99-90

Cougars come back with late surge to upend Indians 99-90

SCOTTSBLUFF Western Nebraska broke a 90-90 tie Tuesday night in the final two minutes of the game and scored the final nine points of the game to down the McCook Community College men 99-90 in the Indians' Region IX opener.

MCC took over the lead near the midway part of the first half, 33-29, stretched it to 46-37 at the half and held it until Western's Teddy Allen hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with 3:40 left to play. Allen, who leads the nation in scoring, was held to 11 first-half points, but picked it up with 26 second-half points to lead all scorers. He went five for eight from the 3-point line and made all 10 of his free throws.

The Cougars made just one of five shots from the 3-point arc in the first half then heated up with an 11-for-17 showing (64.7 percent) during the second 20 minutes where they outscored the Indians 62-44.

Freshman LeTre Darthard (Denton, Texas) led MCC with 23 points including three-for-five from the 3-point line. Sophomore Raheim Sullivan (Toronto, Ontario) scored 20 points and made four of his five shots from distance.

Sophomore Justin Costello (Omaha /Elkhorn South High School) went four of 10 from the 3-point line and four-for-four from the line for 16 points. Sophomore transfer Tyrik Singh (San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago) Daytona State chipped in 12 points and led MCC with seven rebounds and freshman Rahkiem Petterson (Midland, Texas) scored 11.

MCC shot 56.6 percent from the field, made 12 of 27 shots from the 3-point line (44.4 percent) and made eight of 12 free throws (66.7 percent).

Both teams had 29 rebounds

Western Nebraska improves to 11-6 on the season and 1-1 in the South sub-region after falling to Northeastern Junior College on Friday 105-102.

McCook falls to 7-8 and 0-1 in the south sub-region and returns home Friday at 7:30 p.m. for a key Region IX South Division game against Northeastern Junior College (10-5) followed on Saturday with a Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference game at 4 p.m. against Southeastern Junior College (10-6). MCC has a 1-0 record in NCCAC play.

For more information on MCC basketball and all MCC sports, visit the official site of MCC Athletics at https://mccindians.com/index.aspx?path=mbball

If you can't make it to the next MCC home watch it live at: https://mccindians.com/sports/2016/11/10/tw.aspx?tab=tribewatch