MCC Men to face LCCC in quarter-finals Thursday
After a decisive 103-70 win over Eastern Wyoming Saturday at home for the opening round game of the Region IX Men’s Basketball Championship, the McCook Community College men’s basketball team next looks to take down the north division’s top seed Thursday at the tournament site in Sterling, Colo.
MCC (18-13) was the fourth seed in the south sub-region and will face top seeded Laramie County Community College (9-3 in the north and 16-11 overall). That game will be the second of four quarter-final games Thursday to be played at the host school Northeastern Junior College – the top-seeded team in the south. That game will tip off at 4 p.m. Thursday.
The Indians played LCCC twice early in the season and beat them both times, but the Golden Eagles have a player who leads all NJCAA D1 players in scoring in sophomore TJ Coulter.
“They were already a juggernaut offensively with Coulter, but their offense is something special and they added a really key piece to the team in January after we played them. A player at the four-spot who shoots 70 percent from the field and he’s a difference maker for them.”
Since adding sophomore forward Aeremiah Binford in January the Golden Eagles have gone 8-3 and won four straight games.
“I think we’ll be prepared going into the game and I think at the end of the day it’s going to be a matter of who can stop who defensively,” said MCC Coach Dillon Hargrove.
MCC opened the post-season Saturday at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center and never trailed in the opening game of the tournament against Eastern Wyoming. The Indians led by as many as 24 points with six players scoring in double-figures which included 20 points from freshman Djibril Diawara, 16 from sophomore Nate Coley, 13 from Luke Sinisa, and 12 each by sophomores Vladimir Brkovic, Mo Diao and freshman Isayah Pankey.
Other first-round winners Saturday included the south’s second seed, Lamar, beating Western Wyoming 84-75, third-seeded North Platte topped Central Wyoming 78-73, and sixth seeded Trinidad State trounced Gillette 100-74. Only two north sub-region teams won. The north’s second seed Northwest beat Western Nebraska 85-73 and Casper, third seed in the north, downed Southeast Community College 87-82.
The quarter-finals on Thursday will have Lamar (17-14, No. 2 south) taking on Casper (13-17, No. 3 north) at 2 p.m. Laramie County (16-11, No. 1 north) faces McCook (18-13, No. 4 south) at 4 p.m. Northwest Wyoming (20-11, No. 2 north) meets North Platte (18-12, No. 3 south) at 6 p.m., and Northeastern Junior College (20-9, No. 1 south) takes on Trinidad State (14-16, No. 4 south) at 8 p.m.
Semi-finals will be at 5 and 7 p.m. Friday with the championship is slated for Saturday at 4 p.m.
McCOOK CC VS. LARAMIE COUNTY CC: On the second day of the season, the Indians posted a 98-80 win over the Golden Eagles at home. The Indians took command of the game late in the first half and led by as many as 24 points. A trio of MCC guards combined for 70 of MCC's points in the game as Coley led all scorers with 33 points, Diawara scored 25 and Pankey came off the bench to score 12 points.
The Indians also won rematch in Cheyenne, Wyo., on Dec. 6, 88-79. In the final five minutes of the game MCC went to the paint where Diao and freshman Alier Alier muscled in 10 points in the final six minutes of the game and Coley sank six straight free throws in the final 3:13 of the game to fuel an 18-8 run that produced the win. Diao led MCC with 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He went 11 of 17 from the field. Coley chipped in 21 points and made all six of his free throws. Alier scored 16 points with eight boards.
LARAMIE COUNTY CC: The Golden Eagles finished first in the Region IX north division with a 9-3 record and went 16-11 overall. After losing the opening match of the north schedule on Jan. 14 at Northwest College, the Golden Eagles won their next four January games. LCCC lost at Casper to start February and won the rematch with Northwest College at home 99-63 but lost the following game at Eastern Wyoming Feb. 11, before closing out the season winning the final four games of the season to claim the regular season title and earned a first-round bye in the Region IX Tournament.
The Golden Eagles led the north region in scoring, averaging 84 points per game and third in points allowed, 77.8. They were fifth among the seven teams in the north in rebounding averaging 34.1 per game and were next to last in rebound margin at -3.7 per game. They were last in both field goal percentage allowed and 3-point percentage allowed.
“We play similarly to Laramie on offense,” said Hargrove.
TJ Coulter leads the team, Region IX and the nation in scoring at 27.5 points per game with 3.2 assists per game. He shot 36.5 percent from the 3-point line. His 5.1 rebounds per game were third most on the team. Sophomore guard Karim Elgizawy averaged 12.2.
“We’re going to have to play it by the game plan defensively,” said Hargrove. “Laramie is used to scoring a ton of points so it’s up to us to figure out how to slow them down offensively or at least get them out of a rhythm five to 10 minutes at a time.”
Aeremiah Binford adds a new dimension to the offense averaging 12.3 points, and has made 70.7 percent of his shots from the field and 5.5 boards per game. Freshman guard Anthony Nettles scores 10.8 points per game and led the team with 52 steals this season. Sophomore Bevin Phillips averages 10.8 points and led the team with 5.8 rebounds per game.
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to completely shut them down but can you get a little run where you get three stops in a row, three scores in a row because we’re going to have to show up offensively too,” said Hargrove.
WATCH LIVE: Northeastern Junior College will live stream all the remaining Region IX Tournament games on the NJC Athletics YouTube channel. The Northeastern Junior College Athletics web site also has Region 9 Men’s Basketball Championship page with links to the live streams, tournament bracket, ticket purchasing and more.
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