Burlington, IA—A sluggish start for the Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team paired with an explosive offense from the Southeastern Community College Blackhawks led to a 92-67 Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) loss for the Tigers on Saturday night. The Tigers fall to 16-5 on the year and are now 0-1 in league play.
The Blackhawks (17-1, 1-0) scored the first eight points of the game and added a barrage of three-point shots midway through the frame to extend their advantage to 27-9. The lead continued to grow as Southeastern, ranked No. 12 in this week's NJCAA DI Poll, took a 49-22 lead into halftime.
After scoring just two points in the first half, Mike Rodriguez (Boston, MA/Redemption Christian Academy) scored 13 points in the second half, but the Blackhawks' lead proved to be too insurmountable as Southeastern hovered around a 20-point edge for most of the final 20 minutes of action.
Merdic Green (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) scored 14 points in the loss for the Tigers while Terence Shelby Jr. (Peoria, IL/Limestone) and Christal Malalu ('s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands / Koning Willem 1) each scored 11.
Saturday's game kicked off conference play for the Tigers. MCC will host No. 10 Indian Hills Community College at 7:00 PM on Wednesday night followed by a 7:00 PM matchup at home on Saturday against Iowa Western Community College.
