Ottumwa, IA—Trailing by 15 points at halftime, the Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team staged a dramatic comeback to defeat Carl Sandburg College 85-73 at the PCS Classic hosted by Indian Hills Community College on Friday night. Freshman Amir Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) led the way with 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers.
A combination of poor shooting early on from the Tigers paired with a 66.7 shooting percentage from the Chargers in the first half dug the Tigers in a deep hole. Carl Sandburg led by as many as 17 to open the second half, but it was the MCC offense that came alive in the final frame to improve the Tigers to 9-3 on the year. The Chargers fall to 8-3.
Maddred displayed a soft shooting touch from all over the floor on Friday, knocking down a series of mid-range baseline jumpers en route to a career-high 22 points. The freshman finished the night 8-12 from the floor and grabbed six offensive rebounds for his second-career double-double.
Mike Rodriguez (Boston, MA/Redemption Christian Academy) scored 19 points to go along with seven assists. After being held without a three-point shot for just the second time all season against North Iowa Area Community College on Monday, Terence Shelby Jr. (Peoria, IL/Limestone), the team's top three-point shooter, drained three threes in the second half against the Chargers to spark the Tigers' rally. The freshman finished with 15 points. Merdic Green (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) added 11 for MCC.
The Chargers came out firing to start the night, knocking down their first six shots to take a 14-10 lead. The Tigers brought the game within one, 14-13, only to see Carl Sandburg pull away with a 16-0 run. Carl Sandburg controlled a double-digit lead and took a 45-30 edge into halftime.
The Chargers made six of their 10 three-point shots in the opening frame while the Tigers shot just 37.0 percent from the floor, including 1-6 from the three-point line.
Carl Sandburg looked as if its first half shooting performance would carry over in the second as the team knocked down a three to open the half. The Tiger defense clamped down from there on out and provided multiple stops on their end while the offense slowly chipped away, eventually stringing together nine straight points, including five from Shelby to get back in the game. With under 10 to play, Shelby Jr. knocked down a three-point shot to give the Tigers their first lead of the night at 59-58. Multiple three-point plays from both Rodriguez and Maddred down the stretch helped ward off any chance of a Chargers' comeback as the Tigers ran away with the win in the closing minutes.
After struggling to put the ball in the basket in the first half, the Tigers responded with a 54.1 shooting clip in the second half while knocking down four of their seven shots from beyond the arc. On the other end, Carl Sandburg shot just 9-21 in the second half, scoring only 28 points. MCC committed a season-low six turnovers in the win.
The Tigers return to Ottumwa for a matchup with Dodge City Community College at 4:30 PM tomorrow afternoon on the final day of the PCS Classic.
