MCC Men race past Rattlers 100-85
The McCook Community College men got back on the winning track Friday with a 100-85 win in Region IX play against Otero College in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.
“We’d been a little out of rhythm coming into this game, so we wanted to give our guys a little bit more offensive freedom,” said MCC Coach Dillon Hargrove. “We changed our defense a little to be more aggressive and I think that showed tonight.”
The Indians built an 18-point lead midway through the first half, but Otero responded to trail at halftime, 47-42. Otero shot 57.1 percent in the first half and made five of nine triples while the Indians shot 54.8 percent and made four of 11 shots from the 3-point line.
The score was tied at 59 with 13:21 left in the game. MCC had a 67-65 lead with 9:48 left to play, pushed the lead to 78-72 at the 6:18 mark and began to pull away in the final five minutes of the game, leading 83-74 with 4:47 remaining.
“We forced 21 turnovers and had eight steals spread out among six guys and we wanted to push the tempo offensively and that shows with 100 points on the scoreboard and multiple guys with in double figures and shooting at a high clip tonight,” said Hargrove.
Freshman Djibril Diawara (Aulnay-sous-Bois, France) led all scorers with 33 points. He made up for an off-night from the 3-point line (two-for-nine) with a perfect night from the free-throw line (11 of 11). Sophomore Mo Diao, (sophomore, Darkar, Senegal) scored 19 points with four rebounds.
Sophomore Lukas Gudavicius, (Palanga, Lithuania) went six-for-seven from the field and added 16 points while sophomore Nate Coley, (Little Rock, Ark.) scored 11 points. Freshman Justin Neubert (Durango, Colo.) led MCC with five rebounds, and scored eight points with a pair of 3-pointers made.
MCC shot 60 percent in the second half and 57.4 percent for the game, made six of 20 triples (30 percent). After making just nine of 17 first-half free throws (52.9 percent) MCC made 15 of 19 in the second half (78.9 percent) and finished 24 of 36 from the free throw line (66.7 percent)
“We didn’t do a great job free-throw wise in the first half but only had one turnover and then ended with 10, but overall we got to play a lot of guys and that was good for us to get some of the guys a rest,” said Hargrove.
The Rattlers outrebounded MCC 37-22.
“We have to do a better job rebounding – especially when Mo Diao is not in the game,” said Hargrove.
Otero falls to 1-14 on the season.
MCC improves to 11-7 and 1-1 in Region IX South play. On Saturday MCC will host four-time defending Region IX champions Trinidad State (7-9, 0-1) at 4 p.m.
“Another tough one tomorrow with Trinidad – that’s a really good team and we have to try and go back-to-back tomorrow,” said Hargrove.
The Trojans have won the last eight games against MCC including four straight in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center dating back to the 2021 season. Trinidad State lost Friday night at North Platte 81-74.
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