Indian defense steps up in win over Eastern Wyoming

Indian defense steps up in win over Eastern Wyoming

The McCook Community College men's basketball team held Eastern Wyoming to 48 points and a 26.3 percent shooting performance on the way to a 76-48 win at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center Saturday

The win is MCC's third straight after starting the season 0-2.

"Holding Eastern Wyoming like we did tells me that we guarded our butts off today," said MCC Coach Kyle Drennan. "And we guarded for 40 minutes."

The 2-1 Lancers entered the game Saturday averaging 86.7 points per game and 57.6 percent shooting.

MCC defenders held Eastern Wyoming to 22 points and 19.2 percent shooting in the first half on the way to a 44-22 lead. The Lancers scored 26 points in the second half shooting 32.3 percent from the floor.

"I am proud of our guys. They came out back-to-back nights, and we implemented a lot of stuff this morning on how to guard these guys and we executed," Drennan said.

Freshman LeTre Darthard (Denton, Texas) led MCC in scoring with 22 points.

A couple sophomore transfer guards also led the early offense. Justin Costello (Omaha) connected on three early 3-pointers and finished with 15 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Sophomore transfer Raheim Sullivan (Toronto, Ontario) scored 12 points in the first half as the Indians made 10 of 18 shots from the 3-point line.

"Our starters are doing what they are supposed to be doing and everybody else is filling their role," Drennan said.

MCC shot 44.1 percent from the field for the game but cooled off at the arc making 10 of 31 for the game (32.3 percent). The Indians lost the rebound battle 44-35 and turned the ball over 16 times.

"These two games this weekend shows we are learning and growing and we're understanding how hard it is to be a college basketball player," Drennan said. "I'm going to ask a lot of these guys and today they showed me they can do it."

The Indians have a 10-day "layoff" before traveling to Colby Nov. 22. MCC's next home game will be Nov. 22 against Western Wyoming. That game will follow the women's game, which starts at 5:30 p.m.

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

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

If you can not make it to the games watch MCC basketball home games at https://mccindians.com/sports/2016/11/10/tw.aspx?tab=tribewatch