Marshalltown, IA— The Marshalltown Community College Men's Basketball team cruised to a 97-62 victory over Pure Prep Academy on the opening night of the 2015 Emerson Classic at the Student Activity Center Friday. Freshman Souf Mensah (Nantes, France/CCI) led the Tigers with 20 points in the win.
Taking on Pure Prep in game two of Friday night's slate, the Tigers jumped all over their opponent right from the tip. Sophomore Guilherme Verardo (Sao Paola, Brazil/Esporte Clube Pinheiros), who missed most of the 2014-15 season due to an injury, drained his first three-point shot to give MCC a 5-0 edge.
MCC used a 12-0 run, capped by a jumper from Amir Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) to pull ahead 24-12. The Tigers rolled to their largest lead in the first half after a three-point shot from Reggie Gradwell (Marshalltown, IA/West Marshall) put the home team ahead 38-14 with under four minutes left in the half. The Tigers took a comfortable 48-22 lead into halftime following a Vincent Lasley (Tama, IA/South Tama) layup in the closing seconds.
Pure Prep managed to go shot-for-shot with the Tigers to open the second frame, but a pair of free throws from freshman Jamil Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) put the Tigers ahead 56-33 and the lead never dipped below 20 points for the remainder of the contest. Mensah spun to the hole and connected on a layup to give MCC its largest lead of the night, a 42-point margin at 89-47 with just over five minutes to play.
11 different players scored in the opener for the Tigers, including five in double-figures. Behind Mensah's team-high, Tyler Miller (Louisville, KY/22ft Academy) scored 11, including nine in the first half. Verardo delivered three three-point shots to also finish with 11 while both Amir and Jamil Maddred scored 10.
As a team, the Tigers shot 55.1 percent from the floor, including a 63.3 percent clip in the final 20 minutes. MCC outmuscled Pure Prep down low, scoring a 53-30 rebounding advantage. The Tigers also managed to assist on half of the team's 38 field goals as Denzel Ubiaro (London, England/City of London Academy) dished out a team-high five helpers. Ubiaro also hauled in five rebounds to go along with six points.
Verardo and Lasley each contributed a team-high eight rebounds on the night. Jamil Maddred stuffed the stat sheet with four rebounds, three assists, and three steals to join his point total.
MCC has now won four consecutive season-openers, including last year's opening victory which also came at the Emerson Classic.
In Friday night's opening game of the Emerson Classic, Highland Community College (IL) rallied from behind to defeat Southwestern Community College 71-67.
The Tigers will take on Highland at 7:00 PM on Saturday on the final day of the Emerson Classic. Pure Prep and Southwestern will square off at 5:00 PM.
