Marshalltown, IA—The Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team made a late push down the stretch but came up short against the visiting Kirkwood Community College Eagles, dropping the cross-division matchup 90-85 at the Student Activity Center Saturday night.
Trailing by as much as 13 in the second half, the Tigers tied the game at 77 thanks to an and-one conversion from Mike Rodriguez (Boston, MA/Christian Redemption Academy) with 3:07 to play. The three-point play capped off a 9-0 run from the Tigers. The Eagles put together a 7-0 run of their own in the closing minutes to pull away and hand the Tigers their first defeat of the year.
Rodriguez led the Tigers (3-1) with his fourth 20-point game of the year, scoring 20 points on the night, with 17 coming in the second half. Terence Shelby Jr. (Peoria, IL/Limestone) scored 10 points in the first half and finished the night with 14. Guilherme Verardo (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Esporte Clube Pinheiros), Merdic Green (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman), and Paulius Sakinis (Nebraska City, NE/Lourdes Central Catholic) rounded out the double-digit scoring column with 13, 12, and 10, respectively.
The Eagles came out firing on all cylinders to start the game, staking an early 11-4 lead thanks to a strong shooting performance from beyond the three-point range. Kirkwood built its lead to double-digits, 22-12, midway through the first half.
Off the bench, Shelby teamed up with Verardo to chip away at the deficit as the two combined for 13 straight Tiger points in a four minute stretch to bring MCC within one, 26-25. Vincent Lasley (Tama, IA/South Tama) came off the bench to give MCC its first lead with a mid-range jumper, 27-26 with under seven to play. The Tigers scored the final five points of the first half to tie the game at 37 at halftime.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Verardo drained his second three of the night to put MCC up 46-43. The Eagles stayed on pace with MCC, and eventually regained the lead. Kirkwood took a 74-61 lead at the 7:16 mark, only to see MCC mount its comeback.
Five different players contributed in the scoring of the team's 9-0 run that saw Rodriguez convert a fastbreak layup and sunk the free throw to tie the game at 77. On the other end, the Eagles hit 8-10 free throws down the stretch to carry out the win.
Rodriguez grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to go along with six assists. Amir Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) added seven points and seven rebounds in his first start of the season.
MCC picks back up at home with a doubleheader with the women's basketball team on Tuesday night. Both teams will host Little Priest Tribal College, with the women set to tip-off at 5:00 PM and the men at 7:00 PM.
