MCC men open season 2-0 with win over LCCC

The McCook Community College men’s basketball team improved to 2-0 to start the season with a 98-80 win at home Saturday over Laramie County Community College.

The Golden Eagles held a seven-point lead with seven minutes left in the first half, but the Indians clamped down defensively and got the offense on track to take a 47-39 lead at intermission, stretched the lead to 24 points in the final minute and rolled to their second win of the year.

“Laramie is a really good team – and a very good scoring team led by a great player in T.J. Coulter who may become an All-American and we did a great job on them defensively,” said MCC Coach Dillon Hargrove.

The Indians held the Golden Eagles to 36.8 shooting and just 27.5 percent from the 3-point line (11 of 40 shots). Coulter was held to an eight-for-23 game from the field (34.7 percent) and held to three makes from distance on 13 shots (23. 1 percent). He scored 23 points.

“I’m really proud of the guys – especially on back-to-back games their mindset has been a defensive one, our guys were prepared and acted like it,” said Hargrove.

A trio of MCC guards led the offense and combined for 70 of MCC’s points in the game.

Sophomore Nate Coley (Little Rock, Ark.) led all scorers with 33 points, freshman Djibril Diawara (Aulnay-sous-Bois, France) scored 25 and freshman Isayah Pankey (Dallas, Texas) came off the bench to score 12 points.

Coley made 10 of 15 shots from the field and made 13 of 14 free throws. Djibril made four of eight triples and made 11 of 12 free throws. Pankey scored 10 of his 12 points late in the first half to help fuel the MCC comeback. He made five of seven shots from the field, two of three 3-pointers and grabbed seven rebounds.

“We had three guards played great – a lot of guys who played well,” said Hargrove.

Sophomore transfer from North Platte Mo Diao, (Darkar, Senegal), put in 12 points and led the team with nine rebounds. Sophomore Lukas Gudavicius, (Palanga, Lithuania) scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds. Luke Sinisa (sophomore, Auckland, North Island New Zealand) came off the bench with seven rebounds and four points while redshirt freshman Alier Alier, (Bor, South Sudan) scored four points and had four rebounds.

“I was proud of our execution to try to get to the line,” said Hargrove.

The Indians went 26 of 32 from the free-throw line (81.3 percent).

“We were decent from three and over 50 percent from the field,” said Hargrove. “We had four guys in double figures, we’re sharing the basketball. I can’t be happier.”

MCC made 33 of 65 shots from the field (50.8 percent), made six of 18 shots from the 3-point line (33.3 percent) and out-rebounded LCCC 48-35. The Indians turned the ball over 10 times.

Laramie County made 13 of 20 free throws (65 percent) and turned the ball over nine times.

The Indians take their 2-0 record on the road to Twin Falls, Idaho where they play three games in the Battle of The Boot starting with a 2 p.m. game Thursday against Eastern Florida State.

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