MCC Men dump Western Nebraska 82-74

MCC Men dump Western Nebraska 82-74

The McCook Community College men ran away from Western Nebraska Sunday in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center and posted an 84-72 south sub region win. MCC never trailed, led 41-32 at the half, and got up by 24 points with 2:32 left to play before a chippy finish to the game.

The win came two days after losing a 12-point second-half lead at Lamar. So playing better with the lead was a point of emphasis entering Sunday's game according to MCC Coach Jacob Brandl.

"We learned from our mistakes Friday at Lamar, where we got complacent with a 12-point lead and stated jacking up jump shots all over the place and that's how Lamar got back in the game and beat us because of that," said Brandl. "Today we got up big and kept our foot on the gas, took good shots, we didn't press and we didn't throw up stuff we didn't need. We just ran our offense and got buckets."

The coach said another key to the win was trying to improve rebounding since the Cougars were able to get 16 rebounds in their first matchup of the season Feb. 19 in Scottsbluff a game MCC won 82-74. On Sunday MCC out-rebounded Western 44-29 including 11 on the offensive end.

"That was huge because we have been getting out-rebounded and we shouldn't because we have capable guys," Brandl said.

The coach said sophomore Marcus Tobin (Ewa Beach, Hawaii) stepped up his game Sunday on the defensive end and on the glass.

"Marcus Tobin came out ready to play today. That guy's defense was just all around, he was flying all over the place and gets 10 rebounds for us in a game after he didn't get any for us at Lamar Friday. That was huge, the effort he had."

William Lee (redshirt freshman, Queens, N.Y. / Blue Ridge School (St. George, Va.) and a transfer from Dodge City Community College led MCC with 21 points. Cory Kaplan (redshirt sophomore, Merrit Island, Fla. and a transfer from Florida Tech) added 18 points.

Freshman Julian Lual (Calgary, Alberta) scored 12 points and nabbed eight rebounds. Sophomore Cortland Blake (Fort Worth, Texas, and a transfer from Southwest Assemblies of God University) scored 11 points. Sophomores Quinlan (Beavertown, Oregon) and Rashe' France (Memphis, Tenn.) both scored seven points off the bench.

"We had guys step up for us again being short-handed and score the buckets for us, Julian Lual gets 12 after going 0-for-six Friday, Cory Kaplan gets 18 again, Will Lee has 21 19 in the first half and really carried us. Cortland got going in the second half," Brandl said.

MCC shot 52.5 percent for the game, made 11 of 24 shots from the 3-point line (45.8 percent) and nine of 11 from the line (81.8 percent). The Indians turned the ball over 24 times.

"We haven't been making a lot of 3s, our numbers were down," Brandl said. "We took 24 3s where we usually take 30 but we were more effective offensively."

Western shot 41 percent from the field, 32 percent from distance and made 12 of 19 free throws (63.2 percent).

"Just all around we had a lot of guys step up and really play a lot of minutes and just proud with our attention to detail and the direction we're going now," Brandl said.

The Cougars fall to 7-8, and 1-4 in the south division of Region IX.

MCC goes to 10-7 and 4-4 in the south sub-region

MCC has three Region IX south games left on the schedule. On Tuesday the Indians go to North Platte Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game that is also the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference finale. MCC closes out the season with three home games, starting Friday against Trinidad State (7:30 p.m.). Since the women's game with Trinidad was cancelled, officials are looking to move up the starting time if possible. On Saturday MCC takes on Otero Junior College (4 p.m.) for Sophomore Day and the regular season concludes March 30 (7:30 p.m.) against Northeastern Junior College.

The Region IX Tournament begins April 3 at selected sites, with first round game sites to be determined by conference standings and seedings.

For more photos from today's game please visit the McCook Community College Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MPCCMcCook