COLBY, Kan. – The Colby Community College men completed a home-and-home sweep Tuesday night with a 77-70 win over McCook Community College at the Colby Event Center. The Trojans also beat MCC 73-60 to open the season in McCook
MCC took a six-point lead midway through the first half. Colby hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half to lead at intermission 36-33 and stretched the lead to 16 points with 10:12 left in the game
“We got into some foul trouble in the second half and had to go small and Colby did a good job of taking advantage of it,” said MCC Coach Taylor Shaffer.
MCC fought back and with 2:52 left in the game, after an MCC turnover, freshman Daniel Christou, (Perth, Australia) came up with a steal in the offensive lane and put up a layup to bring the Indians within 71-68.
“I’m proud of the way our guys battled and stayed together,” said Shaffer. “We got a lot of good shots but the ball just didn’t fall for us tonight at key times.”
The Indians shot 41.4 percent in the first half, made 16 of 32 shots in the second half and finished the game at 45.9 percent. From the 3-point line, the Tribe made four of 23 shots in the game (17.4 percent) and went 10 of 16 from the free-throw line (62.5 percent). MCC committed 16 turnovers.
Colby shot 41.0 percent for the game, made five of 21 shots from distance (23.8 percent) and made 22 of 31 free shots (71 percent). The Trojans claimed the rebound battle 43-32 and committed 18 turnovers.
Christou and sophomore Josue Kangudi, (Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo) led MCC in scoring with 20 and 19 points respectively. Isayah Pankey, sophomore, (Dallas, Texas) chipped in nine points.
Sophomore Adrijus Janciauskas (Marijampole, Lithuania) and freshman Jack Fitzpatrick (Hudson, N.J.) both scored seven points.
Christou and Tymere Singleton, sophomore (Dallas, Texas) both pulled down five boards each.
Colby improves to 3-1 with their loss coming at Scottsbluff, Neb. Friday against Western Nebraska
MCC falls to 1-4.
The Indians will hit the road again Wednesday for a travel day to Twin Falls, Idaho where the team will play three games in consecutive days in the College of Southern Idaho’s Battle for the Boot. MCC will play the third game in the tournament Thursday at 4 p.m. (CST) against No. 22 North Idaho (1-0). The Cardinals opened their season Nov. 4 at home with a 113-79 win over Pacific Northwest Christian College.
The remaining schedule for the tournament is based on a true bracket format, with the winner of the MCC/North Idaho advancing Friday to play the winner of Eastern Florida State (3-2) and Western Wyoming (0-2). The losers of those two games would meet in the consolation round with times to be announced. On Saturday, the bracket features games for seventh place, the consolation championship, the third place game and the tournament championship game.
Other teams in the top half of the bracket include No.4 College of Southern Idaho (2-0), Western Nebraska (3-1) Clarendon College, (Texas, 1-3) and Casper College (1-2.)
BATTLE FOR THE BOOT
College of Southern Idaho
Twin Falls, Idaho
Thursday Schedule
(All times CST)
Game 1 – No. 4 College of Southern Idaho (2-0) vs. Western Nebraska CC (3-1), 11 a.m.
Game 2 – Clarendon College (1-3) vs. Casper College (1-2), 1 p.m.
Game 3 – No. 19 North Idaho (1-0) vs. McCook CC (1-3), 4 p.m.
Game 4 – Eastern Florida State (3-2) vs. Western Wyoming (0-2), 6 p.m.
Friday Schedule
Game 5 – Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 11 a.m.
Game 6 – Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, TBA
Game 7 – Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner, TBA
Game 8 – Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, TBA
Saturday Schedule
Game 9 (Seventh Place) – Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 loser, TBA
Game 10 (Consolation Champs) – Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, TBA
Game 11 (Third Place) – Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 loser, TBA
Game 12 (Championship Game) – Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, TBA
Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including up-to-date schedule and changes, livestream links for home games, rosters, photos, statistics and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com
