Marshalltown, IA—A valiant second half effort from the Marshalltown Community College men's basketball team came up just short as the Tigers missed a last-second shot, falling to the 9th ranked Indian Hills Community College Warriors 86-85 at the Student Activity Center on Wednesday night. Mike Rodriguez (Boston, MA/Redemption Christian Academy) scored 18 points and dished out nine assists in the loss.
Trailing by nine at halftime, the Tigers put together a 15-2 run to open the second half to gain their first lead of the game, 55-51 with 15:16 to play in the contest. MCC built its lead to six on four separate occasions, but were unable to pull away from the Warriors.
Indian Hills regained the lead with under four minutes to play, but Paulius Sakinis (Nebraska City, NE/Lourdes Central Catholic) knocked down two crucial free throws to tie the game at 81. The Warriors went up by three with 2:21 to play until Sakinis used a spin move in the post for a layup and Rodriguez sank a free throw to tie the game at 85.
The Warriors were fouled on the ensuing possession, and Jordan Washington hit one of two free throws with 26 seconds remaining to give the Tigers one final chance. Following a timeout, the Tigers inbounded the ball near their own bench, but a last-second jumper from Amir Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) fell short as the Warriors escaped with a win.
Merdic Green (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) willed the Tigers into contention in the first half as the sophomore hit all seven of his shots and finished the game with 17 points. Terence Shelby Jr. (Peoria, IL/Limestone) provided multiple daggers from beyond the arc to keep MCC afloat. The freshman finished with 16 points. Sakinis contributed 10 points and five rebounds.
The Tigers area of domination was found in the rebounding column as MCC outrebounded the Warriors 52-34, including a 28-12 advantage in the offensive category. Christal Malalu ('s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands/Koning Willem 1) led all players with 13 rebounds with seven coming on the offensive glass. David Stewart (Boston, MA/Madison Park) pulled down nine boards in the loss.
MCC falls to 16-6 on the year and 0-2 in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play while the Warriors improve to 17-2 and 2-0 in league play.
The Tigers stay in ICCAC action with a home game against Iowa Western Community College (12-6, 0-2) at 7:00 PM on Saturday. The MCC women's basketball team hosts the Reivers at 5:00 PM on Saturday.
