Indians pick up Saturday win over Northeast CC, 93-87

The McCook Community College men scored 17 of the game’s first 19 points, led by as many as 26 points and held on for a 93-87 over Northeast Community College Saturday in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

MCC led 17-2 at the 13:31 mark of the first half, extended the lead to 48-30 at halftime and got up by 26 points 4:06 into the second half.

“We survived that one. Credit to Northeast, they kept playing hard, and even down 26 points, they kept coming at us, they attacked, they pressed us and tried to junk up the game and it really bothered us,” said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl.

Northeast whittled the lead to 10 points with 4:07 left in the game and cut the lead to 86-82 with 1:17 left to play.

“That last four minutes Northeast made every play they needed to and that’s credit to them,” Brandl said. “That’s what happens when you play hard like that.”

With 52.1 seconds remaining in the game, sophomore Martel Evans (Omaha Creighton Prep) came up with an offensive rebound, a putback under the rim, was fouled, and made the free throw to put the Indians up 89-82. After the Hawks came up empty on their end of the court, a breakaway dunk by sophomore Trey Summers (Greeley, Colo.) sealed the win at the 30.4 mark.

MCC shot 45.1 percent for the game, made just five of 26 shots from beyond the arc, and was 24 of 36 at the free-throw line (66.7 percent). The Indians turned the ball over 27 times.

“We’ve got to get better on the turnovers,” said Brandl “It’s the same thing we’ve been struggling with, 27 turnovers and that led to them getting 13 more shots than us. We just tried to force too many plays.”

Northeast shot 36.9 percent from the floor, made four of 20 long-distance shots and made 21 of 33 free throws (63.6 percent). The Hawks outrebounded MCC 55-48.

“I think defensively we weren’t as sharp as we have been,” said Brandl. “But we did a good job of executing the scouting report.”

Five Indians scored in double-figures led by 22 from Summers. Evans and freshman Louie Tucker (Bristol, England) each scored 16 points with Tucker leading MCC in rebounds with 13. Sumers also snagged 12 boards.

“We had a lot of good things from a lot of guys. Louie Tucker didn’t shoot it great from the field but still had 16 and did a great job rebounding, and Trey did a good job of leading the offense and was tough on the boards.”

In the post, Brandon Kabuya Mpoyi (Paris, France) scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while sophomore guards Zeki Cavli (Bodrum, Turkey) scored 10 points and Ty Foster (Bronx, N.Y.) chipped in nine.

“Brandon came out with 13 and 12 so a lot of good things from a lot of players,” said Brandl.

Mpoyi’s production helped fill the void left by Tuesday’s likely season-ending knee injury to 7-0 center Noah Boyed (Monchy, St. Lucia). Boyd signed his letter of intent with Baylor on Monday but sustained the injury in the final five seconds of the 79-75 loss Tuesday to Dodge City. Boyd will likely receive a medical hardship and have three years of eligibility remaining at Baylor.

Northeast CC goes to 3-2.

MCC improves to 2-4 and will hit the road Tuesday for its first Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference game at Columbus against Central Community College

“We’ve got a tough Central team coming up Tuesday and they always play hard and then go on the road to Casper to play a couple more tough teams in the holiday tournament with Western Wyoming and Casper,” Brandl said. “We’ve got to continue to move forward and continue to get better all season.”

MCC will play Western Wyoming in the Casper, Wyo. tournament Friday at 1 p.m. and take on Casper at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com.