Freeport, IL—The Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team captured the 2014 HCC William R. Bear Classic Championship Saturday night, defeating Moberly Area Community College 80-63 to finish 3-0 on the weekend. Mike Rodriguez (Boston, MA/Redemption Christian Academy) was named Tournament MVP while Terence Shelby Jr. (Peoria, IL/Limestone) and Vincent Lasley (Tama, IA/South Tama) were named to the All-Tournament Team.
After defeating St. John's Academy 95-80 on Friday night, the Tigers dropped tournament host Highland Community College 83-68 in Saturday's semifinal round to advance to the championship game. Similar to the team's previous two games, the Tigers controlled the lead for most of the game against Moberly to claim the 2014 title.
Rodriguez played all 40 minutes in the championship game and recorded his third double-double of the weekend. The sophomore point guard scored 24 points on 8-12 shooting and recorded 10 assists. For the weekend, Rodriguez averaged 22.7 points, 11.0 assists, and 5.0 rebounds. Rodriguez connected on 80.0 percent of his free throws, going 24-30 to earn MVP honors.
"The MVP award means a lot because it shows the trust that my coach and my teammates have in me to make plays," said Rodriguez. "If the guys on the court didn't make the shots, I wouldn't have this honor."
As for the progress the Tigers have continued to show, winning their eighth straight game, Rodriguez commended coach Brynjar Brynjarsson for preparing the Tigers. "Looking back at the beginning of the season, we've come a long way, and that comes down to coach B preparing us each and every day. As teammates, we're trusting each other more and more. We're a family now so it's easy to play well with each other."
Shelby Jr. earned All-Tournament honors after going for a career-high 28 points, knocking down a personal best eight three-point shots in the championship game. The freshman guard registered an efficient shooting weekend, making 50.0 percent of his shots from the floor and 51.7 percent from three-point range. Shelby Jr. averaged 21.3 points in the three victories.
Lasley, a walk-on for the Tigers, provided a spark off the bench, averaging 5.0 rebounds over the weekend and currently ranks third on the team with an average of 4.9 rebounds per contest.
Moberly (11-3), which had outscored their two previous opponents in the tournament by an average of 45.0 points, led MCC 13-12 early on in the first half. The Tigers took over the lead and never looked back as Shelby Jr. buried a series of three-point shots in the opening frame to help the Tigers to a 38-31 advantage at halftime.
The Tigers hit 14 of their 27 shot attempts in the second half while holding Moberly to just 37.1 percent in the closing 20 minutes. MCC outrebounded its opponent 47-34 as David Stewart (Boston, MA/Madison Park) tied a career-high with nine rebounds to lead the way. Amir Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) blocked three shots in the win, giving him a total of nine for the weekend.
Despite having to win three games in two days, coach Brynjarsson applauded the overall effort of the team. "The guys came with a tremendous focus this weekend. We were able to battle through some fatigue. We played extremely hard and for as hard as we practice, the results are clearly showing these last few games."
MCC will take part in one more road game before the semester break. The Tigers travel to Iowa Lakes Community College on Dec. 17 as part of a road doubleheader with the MCC women's team.
