Marshalltown, IA—The Marshalltown Community College Men's Basketball team used a 22-4 run to open the second half and held off Highland Community College down the stretch for a 99-96 victory on the final night of the 2015 Emerson Classic. The Tigers finish the weekend 2-0.
Sophomore Amir Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) scored a team-high 24 points to go along with seven rebounds. Sophomore Vincent Lasley (Tama, IA/South Tama) recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Freshman Souf Mensah (Nantes, France/CCI) poured in 21 points for his second-straight 20-point performance while dishing out a team-high five assists. Sophomore Guilherme Verardo (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Esporte Clube Pinheiros) knocked down four three-point shots to finish with 12 points.
All 11 players that appeared in the game scored for the Tigers while 10 players had at least one rebound. The Tigers won the battle on the boards with a 49-45 edge.
MCC connected on half of its shots in each half, shooting 39-78 from the floor overall. As a team, the Tigers knocked down four three point shots. The Tiger defense forced 17 turnovers on the night while recording 16 assists. Sophomore Tyler Miller (Louisville, KY/22ft Academy) grabbed four rebounds to go along with three assists and three steals in the win.
Both teams entered Saturday night with a 1-0 record after recording wins on Friday night in the Student Activity Center. It was all Highland in the opening minutes as the Cougars scored the first seven points and built a 15-4 advantage.
Verardo drained his first trey of the night at the 14:19 mark to spark the MCC offense. The Tigers trailed the entire first half until Reggie Gradwell (Marshalltown, IA/West Marshall) hit a layup on an assist from Mensah at the 6:54 mark. MCC's first lead came two minutes later as Mensah hitting a floater in the lane to put the Tigers ahead 39-38.
MCC held the Cougars without field goal for four minutes as Lasley put together a 9-0 run by himself, capped by a three-point shot to give the home team a 48-40 lead. Highland managed to make a run of their own and sent the game into halftime tied at the half century mark.
The Tigers came out firing to open the second half as Verardo hit back-to-back three point shots to start a 17-0 run for MCC. The Tigers led by as many as 19 midway through the second half.
The game of runs continued, however it was Highland that scored 24 of 32 points to pull within three, 91-88 at the 4:31 mark. The Cougars eventually took their first lead of the half, 96-95 with just 2:07 to play. Following a pair of missed free throws from Highland, Jamil Maddred (Camden, NJ/Camden) hit a layup to put MCC back on top with 1:18 remaining.
Mensah sank two free throws with 16 seconds on the clock, and the Tiger defense forced a turnover and an off-balanced three-point shot at the buzzer to secure the win.
Next up for the Tigers is a home doubleheader with the MCC Women's Basketball team against William Penn JV. The men will tip-off at 5:00 PM followed by the women's season opener at 7:00 PM.
