Lual’s steal, last-second dunk leads MCC over Southeast

McCook Community College's Julian Lual took a defensive tip, turned it into a steal and drove the court for a game-winning dunk with 1.1 seconds left to lift MCC past Southeast Community College at home Sunday, 77-75.

"It was good for our group to finally be the aggressors here and make a play late and not just sit back and let Southeast run their offense," said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl. "We were aggressive and got the steal and Julian put the exclamation point on it."

The win snaps a four-game MCC losing streak.

"We haven't been winning these types of games. It seems like in close ones we lose leads late and have to come back and get a stop and have to get one play, and it was good to get one today," Brandl said.

MCC was down 68-63 with just under three minutes left in the game when D'Andre Dennis hit his only 3-pointer of the game.

"For having such a tough-shooting night like he was, and to be open as much as he was and struggle, I credit D'Andre for overcoming all that to make one of the biggest shots of the game," said Brandl said. "And even though he'd struggled shooting up to that point he did impact the game with 10 rebounds and found ways to be aggressive and play tough defense."

MCC struggled shooting in the first half and on the defensive side gave up too many open shots according to the coach.

"I just didn't think we were as aggressive in the first half and we cleaned up some stuff defensively in the second half," Brandl said.

MCC shot 34.2 percent in the first half and made three of 13 3-pointers (23.1 percent) while the Storm shot 47.1 percent in the first half, making four of 13 shots from outside.

"The second half was great for us as far as flying around and that was a key in the game plan because that has not been happening, "Brandl said. "I'm so proud of the guys and how they stepped up. We're getting a lot of production from a lot of different guys."

Lual led all-scorers with 21 points to go along with his 12 boards (three on the offensive end). Ezichi Kalu (Lagos, Nigeria) scored 16 points with five rebounds he went five-for-eight from the floor and five of six from the line.

Damien Perry (Wareham, Mass.) scored 14 points and DaMiene Boles Jr. (Dayton, Ohio) scored seven points with six rebounds. Dennis, who went two of eight from the field and one of six from the arc, did hit the big 3-pointer late and finished with five points to go along with his 10 rebounds. Beni Fungula (Stockholm, Sweden) scored six points.

MCC shot better in the second half (44.0 percent) and finished at 39.2 percent for the game. From the 3-point line MCC went five of 25 (25 percent) and made 14 of 19 shots from the free-throw line (73.7 percent).

Southeast shot 44.3 percent for the game, made seven of 23 3-pointers (30.4 percent) and shot 14 of 20 from the line (70 percent)

MCC finished with a 46-37 edge in rebounds, including 16 on the offensive end and also had eight steals.

"As a group those 16 offensive was phenomenal," Brandl said. "Really I thought our effort for the entire game was there and was what we needed."

The coach said the final phase of the game that showed improvement Sunday was in the turnover category.

"We haven't been taking care of the basketball but just eight turnovers in a game like this is huge when we get eight steals on the defensive end, we've got to be able to convert with points like we did," Brandl said. "I'm happy with the direction of this team's going and happy with our response."

MCC goes to 5-17 on the season and 1-2 in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference.

Southeast goes to 9-10 and 1-2 in the NCCAC.

MCC will host Western Nebraska Friday in a men's/women's doubleheader starting at about 7:30 p.m. On Saturday MCC will play Northeastern Junior College in a men's only game

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