Western Nebraska men hand MCC first home loss

Dashawn Hall-Johnson tied the game at 56-56 with this second half dunk

An undermanned McCook Community College men’s team lost at home Tuesday to Western Nebraska 102-83. The teams were tied 39-39 at halftime before the Cougars outscored MCC 63-44 in the final 20 minutes of the game. It was the first home loss for the Indians this season.

With the flu-bug keeping three MCC starters out of action the Indians suited up seven healthy players.

“Western Nebraska shoots the ball a lot better than some of the teams we’ve been playing so we mixed it up again on defense but they made 18 threes and that’s tough,” said MCC Coach Dillon Hargrove. “At the same time with three starters missing we had to come up with another game plan and I think we just ran out of gas playing just seven guys tonight.”

In the first half, MCC held Western to 35.9 percent shooting and 36.7 from the 3-point line while the Indians shot 53.8 percent from the field.

The Indians committed six early fouls in the second half forcing the team into a zone defense which Western Nebraska took advantage of, making seven of 15 shots from the 3-point line and making 24 of 27 second-half free throws (85.7 percent.).

MCC tied the game at 56-56 with 11:18 left in the game on a dunk by freshman Da'Shawn Hall-Johnson (Bridgeport, Conn.) but that was the last of 11 ties in the game and the Cougars put the game away over the final 10 minutes of the game.

“I thought our guys played really, really hard,” said Hargrove. “When we had to go to the man-defense they picked us apart and we were already worn out.”

MCC finished the game shooting 47.6 percent from the field, made five of 22 shots from distance and went 18-for-29 from the free-throw line (62.1 percent).

“We didn’t shoot it great from three tonight but hopefully we will have more guys healthy and ready to go next time out,” said Hargrove.

Hall-Johnson led MCC with 20 points which included a three-for-seven night from the 3-point line. Jason Robinson (freshman, Waterbury, Conn.) added 17 points.

Freshman Nate Coley, (Little Rock, Ark.) scored 16 while the Indians got 11 points each from sophomore Dave Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) and Meek Ater (sophomore, Yirol, South Sudan)

Robinson led MCC on the glass with nine rebounds, Hall-Johnson had six as the Indians came up short in the rebound battle 42-40.

Western Nebraska goes to 7-12 and 2-1 in the Region IX South standings.

MCC goes to 10-11, and 1-3 and 6-1 at home.

Next up, MCC will stay in the region and travel to Sterling, Colo. Friday for a game against Northeaster Junior College. The Plainsmen are 7-14 and 1-1 in the standings with an 81-68 Tuesday night to North Platte.

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