MCC Men to open semester Friday with four-game homestand
A heavy dose of home basketball is on tap for the McCook Community College men when they begin the second half of the season Friday with a 7:30 p.m. game against Otero Junior College (8-9). That game is the first of four games in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center over eight days.
On Saturday MCC hosts a 4 p.m. contest against Trinidad State (6-6). On Jan. 19 Northeastern Junior College (8-4) comes to McCook for a 7:30 p.m. Thursday game followed on Jan. 20 with a 7:30 p.m. game against Western Nebraska (8-5).
"It's nice being able to open the semester with four straight home games – especially coming off a lot of away games that first semester," said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl.
Eleven of MCC's first 15 games were on the road.
MCC went 5-10 before the holiday break. Five of those losses came to No. 2 Southern Idaho (19-0), No. 7 Indian Hills (16-2), two losses to No. 8 Dodge City (13-3), and No. 14 Division II Ellsworth (13-2). Add to that a rash of injuries at the guard positions and MCC Coach Jacob Brandl's team was ready for four weeks between games.
"The break is always nice and gives you the chance to hit the reset button, and really dive into some film – not only on your opponents but more so on your team and looking at what we need to get better at," Brandl said.
Since his players returned, they've been able to practice and meet a couple times a day since classes don't start until Jan. 16. Brandl said he's been pleased with the intensity of the practices.
"Plus, we're coming back healthier than we were the end of last semester when we hit that stretch where we only had six guys available."
Five games into the season, MCC's sophomore point-guard Trey Summers sustained a season-ending arm injury and had been leading the team averaging 13.2 points a game, shooting 43.2 percent from the field, 36.8 from distance and 84 percent from the line.
Point-guard Martel Evans (Omaha Creighton Prep) missed the final five games of the semester and Madit Lueeth (Edmonton Alberta), sophomore guard transfer from Southern Idaho, missed the final six games of the semester. Evans had been averaging 8.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and was shooting 48.6 from the field while Lueeth was averaging 10.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
"It's good to have Martel and Madit healthy again and giving help at the guard position," Brandl said.
With the multiple injuries at the guard spot, freshman guard Zeki Cavli (Bodrum, Turkey) assumed a bigger role to end the semester and is averaging 6.3 points and his 95 points scored is third best on the team. He leads the team with 21 made 3-pointers shooting 33.3 percent on the year.
Wing Simon Akena (Stockholm, Sweden), sophomore transfer from Three Rivers College (Mo.) stepped up to lead the team scoring 15.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He shoots 43.7 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from the 3-point line and 82.7 percent from the line. Freshman Jah-Keish Demby (Wilmington, Del.) is averaging 5.2 points and 2.8 boards a game. Sophomore Cameron Nyarko (London, England) is averaging 4.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game and has made 17 of 52 3-pointers (32.7 percent).
"I like where our group is at right now and hope we've learned lessons from the first semester," Brandl said. "We want to be a tougher team and we knew from looking at film we need to play much faster on the offense end – even with all the injuries at the guard spots, we've come back moving the ball much quicker from side-to-side and getting some reversals" Brandl said. "And defensively we just need to get back to how we were playing in the early part of the first semester."
In the post, 7-0 freshman Noah Boyed (Castries, St. Lucia) is averaging 10.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. William Humer (Sollentuna, Sweden), 6-10 freshman is also averaging 7.4 boards per game along with 6.2 points and 1.7 assists. Boyed and Humer are tied for second in rebounding for players in Region IX South. Sophomore Lamine Ndione (Marseille France) averages 5.3 points and 4.3 rebounds.
The team averages 67.4 points per game and allows 77.1. MCC shoots 40.9 percent from the field, 28.9 percent from the 3-point line and 63.7 percent from the free-throw line.
"The biggest thing for us is that the break allowed us to start the second semester healthy and getting off to a good start, these four early home games are critical as far as setting the tone," Brandl said.
All remaining games will have implications on Region IX post-season seeding, Region IX south standings and the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference standings.
"All these games count for something," Brandl said. "So it's important for this basketball program that we start this semester ready to go, and establish that toughness for the rest of the season," Brandl said.
For all the up-to-date information on MCC basketball this season and all sports including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos, please visit the official website of MCC Athletics at mccindians.com