MCC men drop 84-75 game to No. 23 Southern Idaho

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – The College of Southern Idaho (ranked No. 23) handed the MCC men an 84-75 loss in the Thanksgiving Classic Saturday.

MCC led at the half 39-35, before losing for the 11^th time in 12 games this season. Eight of those losses have come to teams ranked in the NJCAA top 25. The College of Southern Idaho improves to 7-1.

Sophomore Damien Perry led MCC with 21 points and had six assists. Julian Lual had 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds. D'Andre Dennis came off the bench and scored 18 points on a six-for-10 showing from the field.

MCC shot 49.2 percent from the field, made 10 of 23 shots from the 3-point line (43.5 percent) and was seven of 10 from the free-throw line (70 percent)

CSI was also 49.2 percent from the field, made nine of 21 3-pointers (42.9 percent) and mde 15 of 23 free throws (65.2 percent. The Golden Eagles held a 40-28 rebound advantage.

 MCC Coach Jacob Brandl did not make the trip to Idaho due to illness.

MCC will close out the semester with three more road contests. This weekend MCC travels to Wyoming for a pair of games against teams in the Region IX North Division.

On Friday, MCC will take on Eastern Wyoming (6-4) in Torrington at 8 p.m. MCC's lone win of the season came against Eastern Wyoming when the Lancers came to McCook on Nov. 5 and MCC won 79-75.

On Saturday it's on to Cheyenne where MCC will play Laramie County Community College (6-5) at 5 p.m. This game is also a rematch from the first weekend of the season when the Golden Eagles beat MCC 80-75 at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

The final match of the semester will be Dec. 7 at Highland Community College in Kansas. That game is set for 7:30 p.m.