MCC Men win on double overtime buzzer-beater

McCook Community College downed Lamar Community College Friday at home 69-68 on a shot in the lane from Madit Lueeth as time expired in double overtime.

"I'm just super proud of the group and how we overcame a lot of stuff in this game to get it done in the end," said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl.

The teams tied at 54 at the end of regulation and tied at 58-58 after the first overtime.

With 21.3 second left in the second overtime Lamar took the lead making one of two shots from the free-throw line. With 7.2 second left, the Lopes missed a pair of free throws. MCC inbounded and got the ball to Lueeth, the sophomore transfer from the College of Southern Idaho.

"Madit had struggled going to the rim down the stretch, but he got downhill and made that shot when it counted," Brandl said

Lueeth, from Edmonton, Alberta finished with nine points and six rebounds on a night he made four of 13 shots.

Lamar led at halftime 33-30 as MCC turned the ball over 11 times in the first 20 minutes.

"We turned the ball over way too much in the first half but cleaned that up in the second half with only five," Brandl said. "Really proud of this group and how they responded – especially in the second half. Defensively I thought we were really good."

After shooting 52 .2 percent in the first half, MCC held Lamar to 28.2 percent in the second half and the 10 minutes of overtimes. The Lopes made five of 18 shots from the 3-point line (27.8 percent) and 17 of 29 from the free-throw line 58.6 percent.

"That says a lot about our defense because we weren't making shots either," Brandl said. "I thought we were open and getting good shots."

The coach noted that William Humer was 0-for-six from beyond the arc.

"He was wide-open and those are shots he's got to take and be able to make for us, but the fact he didn't get deterred and kept on doing what he's supposed to is huge," said Brandl. "And Simon Akena didn't have his best game as far as efficiency goes but he guarded the heck out of Kris Cook."

Cook led Lamar with 19 points, but Brandl noted Lamar star shot seven of 18 from the field.

"That's a credit to Simon and we just got a lot of good minutes from a lot of guys," Brandl said. "We just stayed with the game plan and didn't let bad things get the best of us."

Akena (Stockholm, Sweden) went five of 15 from the field and scored 15 points.   

Freshman Martel Evans (Omaha Creighton Prep) led all players with 21 points. Freshman Noah Boyed (Castries, St. Lucia) scored 11 points and had 13 rebounds. Jah-Keish Demby (Wilmington, Del.) scored eight points and William Humer (Sollentuna, Sweden) was held to two points but had five rebounds.

MCC shot 36.5 percent from the field, went five-for-31 from distance (16.1 percent) and 10 of 18 from the free-throw line.

Lamar outrebounded MCC 46-41.

Lamar goes to 7-17 overall and 2-3 in the Region IX south standings.

MCC improves to 8-16 and 3-4 in the region.

"This is a game that we have got to use as momentum going into next week," said Brandl. "All these games matter now with a huge week coming up and three games."

North Platte comes to the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center Tuesday with a 7:30 p.m. game. MCC hosts Northeastern Junior College Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and MCC travels to Scottsbluff Saturday to play Western Nebraska, a team that is second in the standings.

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