Golden Eagles end MCC men’s season

STERLING, Colo. – Top-seeded Laramie County Community College put an end to the McCook Community College men’s basketball season with an 88-79 win in the quarter-finals of the Region IX Tournament Thursday.

“It was a back-and-forth battle and the last six minutes of the game, they just made more shots than we did,” said MCC Coach Dillon Hargrove.

The game was tight for most of the way and included 16 ties and 24 lead chances. MCC built its largest lead of the game 26-19 with 7:14 left in the first half.

Tied 43-42 at halftime, neither team was able to take a two-possession lead until LCCC went up 61-57 with 13:24 left to play. The Golden Eagles extended the lead to 67-61 at the 11:48 mark but MCC fought back to tie the game at 67 with a 3-pointer by Isayah Pankey (freshman, Dallas, Texas) with 10:13 remaining.

The two teams tied at 71, 73, 75 and at 77-77 with 4:48 left in the game LCCC’s Karim Elgizawy scored a bucket in the lane to put the team from Cheyenne in the lead for good and hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to put the Golden Eagles up 82-77 with 3:06 left in the game. LCC extended the lead with bucket at the 1:44 mark and MCC was unable to rally back, making just one shot from the field in the final 7:12 of the game.

“Congrats to our sophomores and newcomers for a great year,” said Hargrove. “They have helped rebuild this program with the most total wins since the 2017 season.  

The Indians end the season 18-14.

MCC’s five sophomores included Nate Coley, Luke Sinisa (Auckland, North Island New Zealand), Vladimir Brkovic (Uzice, Serbia), Mo Diao (Darkar, Senegal) and Lukas Gudavicius (Palanga, Lithuania).

“They have been a joy to coach and be around all year long.  I look forward to sending them to great universities.”

Coley led MCC with 24 points. Freshman Djibril Diawara (Aulnay-sous-Bois, France) scored 15, he made three of 11 triples. Pankey made four of eight 3-pointers and scored 14 points off the bench. Diao had 10 off the bench and led MCC with nine rebounds. Alier Alier (Bor, South Sudan) had six boards and four points.

MCC shot 47.5 percent from the field, made eight of 24 triples (33.3) percent and made 15 of 18 free throws. The Indians had a 28-12 advantage in bench points and turned the ball just four times in the game.

LCCC shot 50 percent from the field, made five of 19 treys (26.3 percent) and went 15 of 21 from the free-throw line (71.4 percent) and led the rebound battle 36-33. The Golden Eagles also had 19 second-chance points to just four for the Indians.

Sophomore TJ Coulter, the leading scorer in junior college, led LCCC with 33 points on an 11-for-23 shooting night and he went 10 of 13 from the free-throw line. Sophomore guard Brevin Phillips had 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including a perfect, was five of five from the free-throw line with five rebounds and three assists. Aeremiah Binford was eight-for-12 from the field and scored 17 points.

Up-to-date information about MCC men’s basketball including livestream links for home games, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com