MCC Men sweep North Platte with 78-72 win at home

The McCook Community College men applied a steady stream of defensive pressure and offensive balance to pick up a 78-72 win Tuesday over North Platte in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

"I'm really super proud of this group and the way we've been responding as of late," said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl. "I think we have a group now that is showing how close we are to putting everything together when we put our minds to it."

MCC led at the half 42-37 and most of the second half was played with MCC leading in the three to seven-point range.

"Offensively I thought we did a good job of taking easy shots," Brandl said. "Anytime you shoot 50 percent for the game, you're happy with that. Rebounds were pretty even, and we didn't turn the ball over."

MCC finished the game making 32 of 64 shots, (four of 17 from 3-point territory) and 10 of 16 from the free throw line. Both teams had 37 rebounds, MCC turned the ball over 11 times.

North Platte shot 37.1 percent for the game, made five of 18 3-pointers (27.8 percent) and made 21 of 28 free throws (75 percent). The Knights had 14 turnovers.

"The thing I'm most proud about is holding them to 37 percent shooting from the field," Brandl said. "That was big, I thought our defensive plan was working and even as guys went down with foul trouble and injuries, I thought our defense stayed solid and locked in."

MCC had 21 fouls in the game with two players fouling out and two more with four fouls.

"If we don't foul them like we did, they probably only score in the 50s or low 60s. We have to keep adding to that and stay hungry," Brandl said.

MCC won the first match of the year between these two teams in North Platte 73-63 on Jan. 24.

"The starters get a lot of credit and rightfully so, but our bench was outstanding," Brandl said. He cited the bench minutes of freshman Kolton Hager (Wallace, Neb.), freshman Zeki Cavli (Bodrum, Turkey), sophomore Cameron Nyarko (London, England) and Jah-Keish Demby (Wilmington, Del.).

"Kolton Hager comes in played really well, had a wide-open look that he just missed. He guarded guys and didn't get abused in there," said Brandl. "Same thing with Zeki. He shot was off tonight, but he had two of the biggest assists of the night."

Cavli finished with two points, two rebounds and two assists while Nyarko scored five points and had seven rebounds.

"Camron's been up and down with his minutes, but he comes in and gets five points and seven rebounds and Jah-Keish was productive," Brandl said.

Demby had six points and three rebounds.

"Those are the types of things that really sticks out to me, our bench guys being ready and staying hungry when their number's called and I think that's the sign of a together team," said Brandl.

Four of five MCC starters scored in double-figures.

Sophomore Simon Akena (Stockholm, Sweden) led the way with 17 points. William Humer (Sollentuna, Sweden) scored 16 points. Freshman Noah Boyed (Castries, St. Lucia) scored 12 points with 11 rebounds. Madit Lueeth (Edmonton Alberta, Canada) was limited to five points in 14 minutes.

"Simon had another great game offensively and guarded the heck out of their guys, William really stepped up tonight and Noah Boyed has been dominant, and Madit was having a great game before he went out with an injury – hopefully he'll be back healthy soon,"

Freshman Martel Evans (Omaha Creighton Prep) scored 15 points.

"Martel had a fantastic game," Brandl said.

MCC improves to 9-16 and 4-4 in the Region IX South standings and 3-2 in the NCCAC

NP falls to 11-11, 2-6 in the south standings and 2-3 in the Nebraska Conference.

In other Region IX action Tuesday, Trinidad State beat Lamar 98-79 and Northeastern Junior College nipped Western Nebraska 83-81.

Trinidad State now leads the south at 9-0 with four teams (Western Nebraska, Otero, MCC, Northeastern) all tied for second place at 4-4. Lamar and North Platte are 2-6.

"Hopefully we can use these last few games as a springboard to the generate some momentum toward the end of the season and the Region IX Tournament.," Brandl said. "We just have to keep improving, keep getting better

On Thursday MCC will play its final home game of the season, taking on Northeastern Junior College at 7:30 p.m. That is also sophomore recognition night. On Saturday MCC goes to Scottsbluff to take on Western Nebraska and on Monday MCC wraps up the NCCAC schedule in Columbus against Central Community College.

"Everything we want is in front of us we just have to stay hungry and humble," 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

NEBRASKA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S STANDINGS

                        W - L    PCT.

Southeast CC     4 – 1     .800

McCook CC        3 – 2      .600

North Platte       2 – 3      .400

Central CC         0 – 3      .000

NCCAC RESULTS

Nov. 22 – MCC 64, Central 59 (at McCook)

Dec. 6 – North Platte 89, Central CC 84 (at North Platte)

Jan. 21 – Southeast CC 69, Central 59 (at Beatrice)

Jan. 24 – MCC 73, North Platte 63 (at North Platte)

Jan. 27 – Southeast CC 85, North Platte 69 (at Beatrice)

Jan. 29 – Southeast CC 64, MCC 59 (at Beatrice)

Feb. 6 – Southeast CC 67, MCC 60 (at McCook)

Feb. 11 –North Platte 76, Southeast CC 72 (North Platte)

Feb. 14 – MCC  78, North Platte 72 (at McCook)

REMAINING SCHEDULE

Feb. 17 – North Platte at Central CC (Columbus), 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 20 – McCook at Central CC (Columbus), 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 25 – Southeast CC at Central (Columbus, 4 p.m.